- - Council gearing up to nix Mayor Adams’ Christmas Eve veto of sex abuse victims bill

Matthew FischettiDecember 25, 2025 at 9:51 PM

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Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams issued a Christmas Eve veto of a bill that would have granted sexual abuse victims an 18-month window to sue the alleged perpetrators and facilitating institutions, including against Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.

The “Gender Motivated Violence Act” — unanimously passed by the City Council last month — would create a “look back” window for alleged victims to file lawsuits even if the statute of limitations on their claims was expired.

The mayor’s veto statement claimed the bill amounted to a free $300 million “debit card” for law firm Levy Konigsberg, which reps a large swath of alleged victims bringing such claims, including under previous “look back” legislation like the state’s Adult Survivors Act and the Child Survivors Act.

Queens Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers authored the now-vetoed bill, which the City Council plan to override. Paul Martinka

In a statement to The Post on Thursday, soon-to-be Speaker Julie Menin vowed that the incoming council would vote to override Adams’ veto in the new year.

“The Mayor’s veto message suddenly mentions a price tag to the City that was simply never raised in their testimony at the hearing,” Menin said.

“However, we clearly heard directly from survivors of sexual and gender-motivated violence, including horrific accounts from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Their voices made clear that passing this bill is critical to ensuring survivors can pursue justice for the despicable acts committed against them,” she said.

“Just as our majority-women Council stood with survivors and voted unanimously in favor, we will vote to override the Mayor’s veto.”

The next council will have 30 days to override the veto after the lawmakers’ first official meeting in January. Three-fourths of the 51-member body would have to vote in support of nixing Adams’ veto for the law to take effect.

Khalid Melvin, 47, previously spoke to The Post about the abuse he allegedly suffered at Spoffard Detention Center when he was a minor. Robert Miller

“While City Hall claimed it wanted to support victims, that is impossible to square with blocking legislation designed to do exactly that,” Queens Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers, the bill’s author, said in a statement.

“Justice isn’t a talking point to survivors, it’s the difference between silence and accountability.”

The bill is a technical fix for previous legislation that would have lawsuits against allegedly culpable institutions, but was ultimately struck down by a judge.

The new bill would allow hundreds of suits from alleged victims, including against Spofford, the former Bronx Juvenile Detention Center, or those abused by convicted rapist Dr. Ricardo Cruciani, who have accused Mt. Sinai Hospital systems of a cover-up.

The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget previously projected that the bill could bring a billion dollar strain on the city’s checkbook, with a third of any monetary awards likely going to law firms, standard practice for this type of litigation.

“Domestic violence is a serious crime and perpetrators of this act of violence must be held accountable and brought to justice, but this bill would allow a single law firm that lobbied Speaker [Adrienne] Adams and the City Council to pocket up to $300 million of taxpayer funds while reviving claims that have already been dismissed,” the mayor said in a statement.

Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the bill on Christmas Eve, arguing that it would strain the city budget. J.C. Rice

“This is not justice but a windfall for a fancy law firm to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of survivors as well as all New York taxpayers.”

A source told The Post that the council will further assess the fiscal impact of the legislation once the veto override occurs and the bill is implemented.

Jerome Block, an attorney at Levy Konigsberg LLP, said that the mayor’s veto was “callous” and attempting to “deprive survivors of their legal rights”

“Mayor Adams’ veto will not stand. The survivors who fought for Intro 1297 [Gender Motivated Violence Act] will ultimately prevail. We are confident that this shocking Christmas Eve veto will be overridden by the City Council,” he said in a statement.

Sex abuse victims, advocates and their lawyers previously slammed outgoing Speaker Adams, no relation to the mayor, for the bill’s lack of movement before its eventual unanimous passage in November, as The Post exclusively reported.

“Mayor Adams has chosen to use his final days in office to attempt to deny survivors of sexual and gender-motivated violence the opportunity to hold their abusers accountable,” Julia Agos, a spokeswoman for the speaker, said in a statement.

Jordan Merson, a lawyer repping around 40 Epstein victims, slammed the mayor’s veto, too.

“As one of his last acts in office, Mayor Adams vetoed legislation to help sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Think about that.”

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”