An investigation into New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's (D.) fundraising practices has revealed that he extensively used his personal email to conduct city business.
The city's Department of Investigation said in a memo that de Blasio's personal email address appeared 1,850 times, the New York Times reports. The department also found that the mayor requested city administrators help his donors.
The Times obtained the document through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.
De Blasio's activities include his "extensive and longstanding efforts" to help Harendra Singh, a campaign donor, with his multimillion dollar lease dispute.
The mayor's staff repeatedly told Department of Citywide Administrative Services officials to "resolve this matter" and help Singh with the lease because of his status as "a friend of the mayor," several officials said.
De Blasio has defended his fundraising practices repeatedly, and federal and state prosecutors chose not to prosecute him in March after an investigation.
"I'll just say simply it's been basically a year, I've said consistently that we acted appropriately," de Blasio said in March.
A U.S. attorney for New York did, however, find a pattern in which de Blasio solicited donations from people seeking city favors and then contacted agencies to request they help the mayor's donors. This pattern emerged in more than just Singh's case.
Other members of de Blasio's staff also used personal emails to conduct business. The memorandum found hundreds of instances of his senior aides improperly using personal email addresses, including his director of intergovernmental affairs, special counsel, first deputy mayor, and chief of staff.
City spokesman Eric Phillips said New York has no formal policy about private email use but chided de Blasio for not following protocol.
"Employees are supposed to use their government email for government work," Phillips said. "That's always been the protocol and we remind City Hall and agency staff of that frequently."