NYC’s top lawyer learned she’s being replaced through the news after raising issues with city repping Mayor Eric Adams in sex misconduct suit: sources

The Adams administration’s top attorney raised concerns over having New York City rep the mayor in his sex assault lawsuit — and found out in the news that she was being replaced, The Post has learned.

The relationship between the Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix and City Hall began to sour over the past few weeks as she raised concerns over using the Law Department for his defense in the lawsuit, according to sources with knowledge.

At one point, City Hall even asked the 73-year-old attorney to step down — but she refused, the sources said.

“They begged her to resign,” a source said, adding, “She wanted to blow it up.”

It wasn’t until she was blindsided by news reports that the administration was planning to replace her with Randy Mastro, former chief of staff and deputy mayor for Rudy Giuliani, that she gave in and resigned, according to the sources.

Hinds-Radix, who was appointed in the first week of the Adams administration, is expected to leave her post as early week, according to sources, who added that she was devastated by how her exit publicly unfolded.

Hinds-Radix had also pushed back over another legal issue, but The Post has not confirmed the details of that dispute, but sources said City Hall had become increasingly frustrated with her repeated opposition.

Mayor Adams denied during his weekly off-topic press conference Tuesday that there were any disagreements between him and his corporation counsel.

“The accusations in The Post are unequivocally false,” Deputy Mayor of Communication Fabien Levy said in response to the claims.

For weeks, Hinds-Radix has gone to bat for the mayor while being grilled by reporters questioning why taxpayers were footing the bill to defend Adams over an accusation that had nothing to do with his jobs.

“The mayor is entitled to representation as a former employee of the Transit Authority, under the State Public Officers Law,” Hinds-Radix first told reporters on March 19, just a day after the bombshell amended complaint dropped against the mayor, which he vigorously denied.

She would later concede that the Law Department can choose whether or not to represent a city employee accused of wrongdoing not connected to their official duties.

But behind closed doors, Hinds-Radix was fiercely opposed to having the city’s lawyers represent Adams and was unhappy with being forced to do so, sources said.

City Hall then brought on celebrity attorney Alex Spiro, at a heavily discounted rate, to take a more aggressive approach in the case. In just the first few days, he tried to get the case to be dismissed and pushed for the plaintiff, Lorna Beach-Mathura, to be grilled under oath.

Beach-Mathura, a former city employee who now lives in Florida, alleges the mayor, who was then a transit cop, asked her for oral sex and exposed himself once she refused while the two rode in a police car in the early 1990s, according to a lawsuit filed under the state’s Adult Survivors Act.

Adams has repeatedly denied that he did anything wrong in the case, which includes allegations dating back decades, and defended using city attorneys for his defense.

Hinds-Radix could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

News broke on April 16 that the administration was actively aiming to bring in Mastro, an attorney with a reputation for being a bulldog who comes with a lengthy track record of success as a lawyer.

But Adams faces an uphill battle to appoint Mastro as corporation counsel, which needs to be confirmed by a majority of the New York City Council, with members already lining up to reject his confirmation.

“Best of luck,” one city lawmaker said of the confirmation.

For their part, Adams staffers are now trying to make the case that Mastro is an elite legal mind, with City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg even going as far as comparing him to one of the country’s forefathers, John Adams, on Tuesday.

“Randy is an incredibly top-notch, world-renowned lawyer who’s given tremendous service already in the past to New York City and to the people of New York,” Zornberg said in City Hall following a lengthy prepared defense of Mastro.

Adams dodged questions Tuesday on whether he would appoint Mastro to another post in City Hall if he fails to get confirmed.

A political source quipped that “Mastro wouldn’t go for that.”