Controversial attorney Randy Mastro is officially coming onboard as Mayor Adams’ top City Hall deputy next week — but he isn’t leaving his law career entirely behind him. While serving as first deputy mayor, Mastro will continue to be the attorney for the Madison Square Garden business empire, defending the company and its owner, James Dolan, against a long-running lawsuit brought by NBA legend Charles Oakley, the Daily News has learned. Mastro was cleared by the city’s Conflict of Interest Board to see through the Oakley case, Adams’ office said. A onetime top official in the Giuliani administration who has made a career championing conservative causes in court, Mastro will work on the case on his own time and won’t be compensated to represent MSG once he assumes his role as first deputy mayor on Tuesday, Adams’ office added. The move drew immediate pushback from government watchdogs, who told The News it raises conflict of interest concerns, given the extensive business interests Dolan and MSG hold before Adams’ administration. MSG’s business interests include critical matters like tax breaks the arena enjoys. The decision by Mastro to stay on the MSG case also spotlights how his career of representing special interests could become a headache as he joins Adams’ administration at a time of turmoil amid the mayor’s federal corruption indictment and surrounding scandals. In contrast, Adams’ office said earlier this week Mastro is withdrawing as the lawyer for New Jersey in the state’s bid to kill the MTA’s congestion pricing program, one of many high-profile cases he recently has worked on involving issues impacting the five boroughs. Mayor Adams. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News) Mastro’s private sector relationships became a focal point when Adams sought last year to make him the city’s corporation counsel, a post he withdrew himself from consideration for after City Council Democrats affirmed they’d reject his nomination over concerns about his legal work and ties to ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Unlike the corp counsel role, Mastro doesn’t need Council approval to serve as first deputy. Oakley, who as a power forward on the 1990s Knicks consistently ranked as one of the best defenders in the NBA, filed the lawsuit against MSG and Dolan in 2017 over allegations that his public criticisms of Dolan led him to be unlawfully detained and ejected from a Knicks game at the Midtown arena. While Oakley maintains he was unlawfully targeted, Mastro has argued on behalf of MSG that the ex-ball player was thrown out for being unruly and getting into a scuffle with security guards. On Thursday, Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said the Conflicts of Interest Board has informed Mastro he wouldn’t violate any laws by staying on the MSG case.  COIB Executive Director Carolyn Miller said Thursday city confidentiality laws preclude her from commenting on whether the board gave Mastro permission to stay on the MSG case. Miller noted that Mastro is free to disclose any advice the board may have given him. He didn’t return a message seeking comment, and the mayor’s office would not release Mastro’s communications with the board. King & Spalding, the law firm Mastro’s a partner at but stepping aside from while at City Hall, has other attorneys assigned to represent MSG in the case. Mamelak said it’s key for Mastro to stay on nonetheless because he has represented MSG “for two decades and has been dedicated to this particular case for the past eight years.” While he remains MSG’s lawyer, Mastro — who appeared in Manhattan Federal Court for a hearing in the Oakley case just this past Friday — will recuse himself from any matters relating to MSG that might come across his desk at City Hall, she also said. Charles Oakley. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images for BIG3) According to Mamelak, Mastro opted to continue representing MSG in the Oakley case because it’s in the process of concluding, and he doesn’t want to abandon his client “at this final stage.” Mamelak didn’t say why Mastro believes the case is about to be over. The court docket suggests it could drag on for at least several weeks, as the judge has set a May 9 deadline for submissions related to texts Oakley sent after his ejection from the Knicks game. Oakley’s attorney, Valdi Licul, declined to comment. John Kaehny, a longtime government ethics expert who leads the Reinvent Albany watchdog group, voiced outrage at Mastro’s continued MSG representation and argued it doesn’t matter he’ll be unpaid. “The job of first deputy mayor is the second most important job besides being the mayor and there’s certainly no room for divided interests and divided loyalties,” said Kaehny. “The fact that he’s continuing to work for someone who is a major political player and donor with business before the city makes it even more vomitous. It is utterly, utterly unacceptable, obtuse and oblivious to the concerns of the time and underlines why he was a bad choice to be corp counsel and a bad choice to be first deputy mayor.” MSG reps didn’t return messages seeking comment. MSG holds extensive business interests before Adams’ administration and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years on lobbying City Hall on various issues. For instance, MSG lobbied top Adams advisers in 2023 on getting the city to renew the special permit the arena needs to operate; it secured a five-year permit. MSG’s executives, including Dolan, are major financial backers of Adams’ campaigns and legal defense trust, which he uses to cover lawyer fees in his criminal case. James Dolan. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) In October, The News reported Dolan, his relatives and business associates pumped more than $60,000 into his reelection campaign and defense trust last summer. Separately, new records show Richard Constable, an executive vice president in Dolan’s corporate empire, bundled $29,400 in donations from 14 individuals, including other MSG executives, for Adams’ reelection bid last summer. Besides MSG and New Jersey, Mastro has in recent years represented various big corporate players with business interests before the city, including the Durst Organization real estate firm. Mamelak confirmed Mastro’s also recusing himself from as first deputy working on any matters related to congestion pricing due to his representation of New Jersey. She declined to immediately say whether Mastro is recusing himself from any other matters due to his private sector career, arguing it’s “premature” to discuss that. Adams tapped Mastro for the No. 2 post after his predecessor, Maria Torres-Springer, and three other deputy mayors resigned over concerns about the mayor’s ability to lead the city amid the Trump Justice Department’s controversial effort to drop his corruption case. Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler, a Democrat who helped lead the charge against Mastro’s corp counsel nomination, said the mayor allowing Mastro to keep representing MSG adds another reason to question his fitness to lead. “This is precisely why the City Council was concerned about Mr. Mastro’s ability to disentangle himself from his powerful clients and serve in the best interests of the city,” Restler said. This is a developing story; check back for updates. ...read more read less