21 hours Ago By Chris Sommerfeldt
NBA legend Charles Oakley’s lawyer is urging a judge to disqualify new First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro from defending Madison Square Garden against a lawsuit by the former basketball star — a demand that comes after Mastro’s decision to stay on the case sparked ethics concerns.The suit was filed by Oakley in 2017 over accusations he was unlawfully ejected from Madison Square Garden during a Knicks game after getting into a verbal spat with the arena’s billionaire owner, James Dolan.Mastro, a controversial lawyer and Giuliani administration alum who was named Mayor Adams’ new top deputy last month, has represented MSG and Dolan against Oakley’s suit for years.
As first reported by the Daily News last week, Mastro has opted to continue working on the case while at City Hall. But the arrangement has prompted government watchdogs to raise ethics concerns, since MSG and Dolan have extensive business dealings with Adams’ administration, including issues involving tax breaks.Former Knicks player Charles Oakley being booted from Madison Square Garden on Feb.
8, 2017. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)In a Wednesday letter to Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Sullivan, Oakley’s attorney, Valdi Licul, wrote that those concerns are serious enough Sullivan should bar Mastro from continuing on the case while first deputy mayor. Licul cited an advisory opinion from the city Conflicts of Interest Board holding that “a public servant who is an attorney may not have a private law practice which conflicts with the proper discharge of his or her official duties.
”“Mastro cannot continue to represent MSG without violating this provision,” Licul wrote to Sullivan. “Courts have consistently doubted that any public servant — let alone a high-ranking official — can simultaneously serve the public while running a private law practice.”The long-running MSG case could go to trial, and Licul also argued that letting Mastro stay on it could create the appearance to jurors that Adams’ administration “has taken sides in this private litigation, severely prejudicing Oakley.
”In response, Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said it’s kosher for Mastro to stay on the MSG case because he’s doing so in a personal, unpaid capacity.She also said the Conflicts of Interest Board gave Mastro permission to do so as long as he recuses himself from working on any other MSG matters as first deputy. “He has done that,” she added.
Mamelak said the board gave Mastro the OK in a confidential advice letter, but Adams’ office has declined to share a copy.Licul, though, argued Mastro would need a formal waiver to work on the MSG matter, citing another advisory opinion from the board saying city employees aren’t allowed to represent “a client that has business dealings with the City, even where the matter does not involve the City.”Conflicts of Interest Board Executive Director Carolyn Miller declined to comment.
Miller previously confirmed Mastro didn’t get a waiver. Due to confidentiality protocols, Miller has said she can’t even acknowledge the existence of any confidential advice the board gave Mastro.Adams, who still faces serious political headwinds amid fallout from the Trump administration’s successful effort to drop his corruption indictment, named Mastro as first deputy mayor after initially attempting to make him his corporation counsel last year.
The corp counsel appointment collapsed after City Council Democrats made it clear they would block Mastro’s hire out of concern about his work for ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and record of championing conservative causes in court. Unlike the corp counsel role, Mastro didn’t need Council approval to become first deputy..
