A fundraiser for Mayor Eric Adams charged in a kickback scheme involving city contracts obtained a delay in the case in preparation for possible plea negotiations with prosecutors in the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, a court filing shows.

Weihong Hu was indicted last week in a public corruption scheme, accused of bribing the founder of a nonprofit group, Exodus Transitional Community, that placed released inmates in her hotels during the pandemic with rooms paid for with government funds.

She and a co-conspirator, Christopher Dantzler, owner of an unlicensed security firm handling security at the hotels, paid Exodus CEO Julio Medina $2.5 million in bribes in exchange for $51 million in contracts, prosecutors alleged.

Several hours after Hu appeared in Brooklyn federal court on Feb. 13 to plead not guilty, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney John Durham’s office filed papers requesting the clock be paused leading up to trial, citing “plea negotiations.”

The document, signed by Magistrate Judge James Cho, also cites “discovery” — obtaining the evidence prosecutors have amassed in the case — as a reason the U.S. attorney and Hu’s counsel, led by defense lawyer Benjamin Branfman, agreed to hit pause.

Cho specifically noted that the time exclusion was approved “given the reasonable likelihood that ongoing plea negotiations will result in a disposition of this case without trial.”

Both Medina and Dantzler also requested time excluded for the same reasons, referencing “plea negotiations” and “discovery.”

ed by THE CITY, Brafman, who has described his client as a “victim” and not a co-conspirator, stated, “There are no plea negotiations” and declined to comment on the document filed in court, signed by both sides and approved by the judge, that specifically references “plea negotiations.”

Hu’s involvement in possibly illegal acts that implicate Adams’ political campaigns and his istration extend far beyond Exodus, as revealed by THE CITY in a series of investigative reports. If she were to fully cooperate with prosecutors, she could be an explosive witness against the embattled mayor.

Hu hosted two fundraisers for Adams’ 2021 campaign at her Fresh Meadows hotel, the location where the city Department of Investigation ed the FBI to execute search warrants last year. 

In June 2023 Hu threw a fundraiser for Adams’ re-election bid, raising $44,000 at a luxury building in Hudson Yards where she had recently purchased an apartment for $5 million in cash. Two donors told THE CITY that their $2,000 contributions were reimbursed by of Hu’s family — making them “straw donations” forbidden under the city’s campaign finance program.

And in 2022 another associate of Adams’, Rev. Al Cockfield II, made a call to the Department of Buildings after inspectors paused a midtown development project owned by Hu, citing a construction safety violation. The stop work order was promptly rescinded, THE CITY reported. Cockfield was also part of the intervention to allow construction to proceed with another Hu Manhattan hotel project despite her failure to replace affordable housing as required.

Federal and city investigators raided Cockfield’s home the same day they visited Hu’s Fresh Meadows’ hotel, and sources told THE CITY the probe involves her fundraising for Adams and Cockfield’s work on her behalf.

Hu also has close ties to Adams’ top Asian community advisor and fundraiser, Winnie Greco, who stayed at the Fresh Meadows hotel for months in a room that was part of the Exodus shelter program, THE CITY found in its investigation. Greco has never provided evidence she paid. Greco’s two Bronx properties and a Queens mall that was another hub of Adams campaign activity were both raided by the FBI a year ago. Greco resigned in October.

Last week, the Trump Department of Justice initially blocked further “investigative steps” regarding Adams in ordering Manhattan federal prosecutors to dismiss their case against the mayor. But in court on Wednesday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove backed away from that position, saying there are now no restrictions on subsequent inquiries that involve Adams.

The Exodus saga began in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic when Exodus was awarded an $835,000 no-bid contract from the de Blasio istration to house inmates released from Rikers and upstate prisons. That contract would ultimately balloon to more than $122 million.

THE CITY first discovered millions of dollars were funneled into another unlicensed security firm controlled by Dantzler that the city was unaware of.

Prosecutors allege that Hu and Dantzler made $2.5 million in secret payments to Medina, including financing a $107,000 luxury vehicle for him, buying him a $1.3 million townhouse in Washington Heights and a $750,000 home upstate, handing over envelopes of cash and helping him pay his mortgage.

In exchange, companies controlled by Hu and Dantzler reaped millions of dollars in subcontracts from Exodus for security and catering services. The hotels and a construction firm she rebranded as a caterer providing food to the released inmates pocketed $31 million. Dantzler received another $21 million, of which $12 million went to actual licensed security firms while he pocketed the remaining $9 million, the indictment alleges. 

Taxpayers ultimately paid for all the bribes, which were covered up with inflated invoices submitted to Exodus, prosecutors say.