Mayor-elect Eric Adams selected Brendan McGuire, a former top corruption prosecutor for the federal government, as his new chief legal adviser, his transition team announced Friday.
Additionally, The Post has confirmed that Adams intends to name another former federal prosecutor, Jocelyn Strauber, as the head of the Department of Investigation, which probes municipal corruption and malfeasance in the Big Apple.
The pair are veterans of the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office who had entered private practice at law firms in the city.
“I appreciate that the City’s lawyers must play an essential role in improving the government’s performance in every area, with a critical focus on accountability and transparency,” said Adams in a statement released Friday.
“If harnessed and coordinated properly, the legal function of the City can facilitate meaningful change and have an enormous impact on the renewal of the City.”
The New York Times first reported Strauber’s selection. Her appointment requires City Council approval.
Adams has yet to name his pick to head the city’s Law Department. Getty Images / Roy Rochlin
Brendan R. McGuire was involved in some of the city’s highest-profile corruption cases. Mike CoppolaAdams has yet to name his pick to head the city’s Law Department, the division of City Hall tasked with defending the government against a bevy of legal challenges, including those lodged by labor unions against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandates.
McGuire was involved in some of the city’s highest-profile recent corruption cases including the prosecutions of two disgraced Democratic ex-lawmakers, Councilman Larry Seabrook and state Sen. Carl Kruger.
He also led the investigation into the $700 million CityTime debacle, one of the biggest scandals during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s tenure, where contractors hired to build City Hall’s time-keeping system were convicted of swindling taxpayers.
McGuire (foreground) was involved in the sentencing of Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse (right). AP / Elizabeth WilliamsAnd he was involved in the successful prosecutions of Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani immigrant who in 2010 tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, and of the so-called “Merchant of Death” arms dealer Viktor Bout, a Russian businessman who ran an international arms-trafficking network.
“It is a privilege to return to public service to work on behalf of its residents,” said McGuire in a statement. “The Mayor-elect is uniquely positioned to bring us together and bring us back to where we belong.”
