Mayor-elect Eric Adams flew to Puerto Rico earlier this month on a bitcoin billionaire’s private jet — even as he claimed that the trip was on “my dollar, my dime and my time,” according to a report.
New York City’s next mayor — who has pledged in recent weeks to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin and said that cryptocurrencies should be taught in schools — hitched a ride to San Juan on billionaire Brock Pierce’s private Gulfstream jet alongside his partner, Tracey Collins, Politico reported on Tuesday.
After attending the influential SOMOS conference there, Adams, Collins and Pierce had dinner with the territory’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, according to the outlet.
But Adams stayed mum about the alleged flight with Pierce, who has donated to his campaign and partied with him on election night. Instead, the mayor-elect told reporters in San Juan that he had paid for the trip himself.
“Before the question is asked, I paid my own way. I learned the best way to tell people to mind their business is to come out your pocket and cut your own check, so I’m here on my time,” Adams said at the time, according to Politico. “It’s on my dollar, my dime and my time.”
Adams spokesman Evan Thies did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post. Thies told Politico that Adams “paid for a seat on a private flight through a travel agent, and he flew commercial on his return trip” but did not provide receipts from the trip.
Pierce — an eccentric ex-child actor who appeared in Disney’s “The Mighty Ducks” and received 50,000 votes in a 2020 presidential run — did not confirm or deny the report when reached by The Post.
“I’m not commenting on any of Eric’s business,” Pierce said. “I don’t have any role in his administration.”
Pierce is part of a community of crypto traders who have moved to Puerto Rico, which has looser tax rules than the mainland US. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and YouTube star Logan Paul also relocated to the island in 2021 — even as critics have griped that crypto-consumed outsiders are driving up housing prices for locals.
The SOMOS conference, which took place in San Juan in early November, is an annual gathering where New York politicians, lobbyists, operatives and union leaders hobnob and form alliances. In addition to Adams, this year’s event was attended by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James.