A stunning end to the baby-oil-soaked trial of a rap legend, a quashed mayoral bribery case and an accused assassin\u2019s eyebrow-raising courthouse cheers.<\/p>\n
These moments rocked the Big Apple during another dizzying year of drama in New York courts \u2014 where The Post had a prime seat to the action.<\/p>\n
Here are 10 of the most gripping scenes to unfold in city courthouses in 2025:<\/p>\n
10. Linda Sun \u2018ducks\u2019 the rap \u2014 for now<\/p>\n
Linda Sun\u2019s federal trial exposed how the former Albany aide boasted about her political sway to Chinese consulate honchos \u2014 who showered her family with perks like free ballet tickets and salted duck prepared by a private chef.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is much more obedient than the governor,\u201d Sun texted in 2021 about Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, after vowing to get Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s then-No. 2\u00a0to film a cringey Lunar New Year video<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a Brooklyn judge was forced to declare a mistrial on Dec. 22 <\/a>after a jury ultimately couldn\u2019t unanimously agree on whether Sun was guilty of illegally serving as a Chinese agent.<\/p>\n The Brooklyn corruption trial of Linda Sun, who was charged alongside husband Chris Hu, ended in a hung jury. Michael Nigro<\/p>\n Sun and her husband, Chris Hu, are expected to face a retrial in 2026.<\/p>\n 9. Feds crack down on Washington Square Park<\/p>\n Within the span of a few minutes in October, the Manhattan US Attorney\u2019s Office unsealed two headline-grabbing indictments meant to crack down on the Big Apple\u2019s illegal drug trade.<\/p>\n In the first, nearly 20 alleged dealers accused of running an around-the-clock, open-air drug market in Washington Square Park for half a decade \u2014 and who were purportedly responsible for a rash of overdoses in the park since 2020 \u2014 were busted after a joint probe <\/a>by the NYPD and DEA.<\/p>\n An NYPD officer patrols the Greenwich Village park days after the crew of alleged drug dealers was nabbed. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n The feds soon after separately announced charges against five men for helming a\u00a0criminal crew\u00a0that sold\u00a0thousands of counterfeit pills<\/a>\u00a0to unsuspecting teens and young adults across the five boroughs.<\/p>\n The dealers in that case allegedly supplied the drugs responsible for the\u00a0July 2023 overdose death<\/a>\u00a0of legendary actor Robert De Niro\u2019s grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, and the drugs that killed 19-year-old Akira Stein,\u00a0the daughter of Blondie guitarist Chris Stein, that May.<\/p>\n 8. President Trump\u2019s $500 million fine tossed by appeals court<\/strong><\/p>\n A New York appeals court in August threw out the more than $500 million fine that President Trump had owed in State Attorney General Letitia\u00a0James\u2019 business fraud case.<\/a><\/p>\n Three out of the five judges on the panel agreed that the whopping fine<\/a> ordered by Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron was \u201cexcessive.\u201d<\/p>\n But the long-awaited ruling was a mixed bag<\/a> for the real estate tycoon-turned-president, as the Appellate Division, First Department upheld a lower court\u2019s finding that Trump engaged in fraud by exaggerating his net worth for a decade on documents sent to banks and insurers.<\/p>\n Both Trump and James claimed victory after the court\u2019s legally dense 323-page decision.<\/p>\n The ruling erased the more than $500 million Trump had owed New York State, in a case brought by AG Letitia James. REUTERS<\/p>\n The fate of the legal battle between New York\u2019s top lawyer and the commander-in-chief is now up to New York\u2019s highest court, which is expected to consider the case at a later date.<\/p>\n 7. NYC mayor\u2019s crabby confidant charged with taking crab cake bribes<\/p>\n Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 top aide, was ticked off.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever site TJ wants, I need him to get them. Because that\u2019s our f\u2014king people,\u201d she shouted to an underling during a May 31, 2024 phone call caught on a wiretap.<\/p>\n \u201cTJ\u201d was Tian Ji Li, a real estate developer that had yet to receive some of the whopping $7 billion<\/a> in city contracts shelled out\u00a0to house migrants that had poured into the Big Apple.<\/p>\n Lewis-Martin donned a light gold suit at her Manhattan arraignment, where she pleaded not guilty. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n Lewis-Martin\u2019s dogged advocacy came at a price: $50,000 wired from Li to her son, according to a bombshell indictment<\/a> unsealed by the Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office in August.<\/p>\n The former City Hall power broker was also charged with trading political favors for goodies like a $10,000 spread of crab cakes and other seafood delivered to the official mayoral residence at Gracie Mansion. She has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n 6. \u2018Gold Bar Bob\u2019 Menendez\u2019s wife Nadine gets her revenge<\/p>\n Former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez shockingly blamed his wife Nadine <\/a>for his infamous \u201cgold bar\u201d bribery scheme during his 2024 trial.<\/p>\n Nadine finally got her chance at payback at her September sentencing hearing, where she painted herself as a mere victim of her hubby\u2019s master plan.<\/p>\n \u201cI put my life in his hands and he strung me like a puppet,\u201d\u00a0the sobbing convicted felon proclaimed as she pleaded for leniency from a Manhattan federal judge.<\/a><\/p>\n Former U.S. senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine, traded barbs about each other in court. Both were convicted. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n Judge Sidney Stein appeared unconvinced by Nadine\u2019s weepy speech \u2014 and sentenced her to serve four and a half years in prison.<\/p>\n 5. Crypto bros charged with torturing Italian investor in posh SoHo townhouse<\/p>\n One morning in May, a barefoot and distressed Italian crypto millionaire\u00a0flagged down a SoHo traffic cop<\/a> and told him a harrowing tale.<\/p>\n The shoeless man claimed that he\u2019d been held prisoner, brutalized and tortured<\/a> inside a swanky Prince St townhouse by men demanding the password to his Bitcoin wallet, which held funds worth $100 million.<\/p>\n Cops soon stormed the alleged house of horrors and cuffed Kentucky \u201ccrypto king\u201d John Woeltz \u2014 who was nabbed while donning a bathrobe \u2014 and later Woeltz\u2019s colleague William Duplessie, charging them with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and various other raps.<\/p>\n Kentucky crypto mogul John Woeltz, here wearing orange, has been released on $1 million bail with the case pending. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n Woeltz was sprung on $1 million bond <\/a>in July after his lawyer called the so-called torture akin to \u201cfraternity-like hazing.\u201d Duplessie remains on Rikers Island, and both he and Woeltz have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n 4. Luigi Mangione fans cheer accused murderer as terrorism charges are tossed<\/p>\n Luigi Mangione\u2019s warped fans hooped and hollered outside Manhattan Supreme Court on Sept. 16 as they celebrated the accused killer\u2019s terrorism charges being dropped<\/a>.<\/p>\n Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro tossed murder as terrorism charges \u2014 the top counts in the state\u2019s case against the 27-year-old Ivy League university grad, accused of executing United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood on Dec.4, 2024.<\/p>\n Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the killing and has yet to receive a trial date. Steven Hirsch for the NY Post<\/p>\n The surprise ruling delighted fans of the preppy alleged assassin who had camped out overnight in the hopes of glimpsing Mangione during his appearance at the Centre Street courthouse.<\/p>\n \u201cFree! Luigi!\u201d one protester, who wore a green hat like the Luigi video game character, shouted in a call-and-response chant\u00a0celebrating the decision.<\/p>\n The Maryland native is still charged with murder and faces 25-years-to-life in his state case even without the terror charges, and is also staring down separate federal charges\u00a0<\/a>that carry a possible death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court Jan. 9 for an appearance in the federal case.<\/p>\n Mangione\u2019s fans have donned \u201cFree Luigi!\u201d signs at several of the accused killer\u2019s appearances. James Keivom<\/p>\n 3. Justice Department bails out Mayor Adams in bribery case <\/p>\n New York City Mayor Eric Adams had been set for a spring 2025 trial on charges of taking $123,000 in travel perk bribes in exchange for fast-tracking the opening of the Manhattan Turkish consulate.<\/p>\n But in February, President Trump\u2019s Justice Department ordered that the historic case be dropped<\/a> \u2014 setting the stage for Adams to get off scot-free, while possibly speeding up his political demise.<\/p>\n Mayor Adams was able to dodge prosecution for the alleged bribery scheme, but bowed out of his race for re-election. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n After the charges were dropped, Adams declared on the Gracie Mansion steps <\/a>that \u201cI did nothing wrong\u201d \u2014 and vowed that he would win re-election.<\/p>\n Months later, while polling in the single digits, he dropped out of the race.<\/a><\/p>\n 2. Mobsters and hoops stars charged together in bombshell NBA poker case<\/p>\n On the night of Oct 24, Chauncey Billups coached the Portland Trail Blazers to a 111-98 loss at the hands of the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n The next morning, the FBI arrested the NBA Hall of Famer, who is charged with a key role in a sprawling scheme \u2014 involving four of the five Mafia families \u2014 to rig poker games using high-tech cheating tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones acted as \u201cface cards\u201d to attract high rollers to big-money poker games that were fixed using rigged X-ray card tables, card shufflers and special glasses and contact lenses, according to a stunning indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court.<\/p>\n NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups is charged in the poker-rigging case alongside several mobster co-defendants. REUTERS<\/p>\n The hoopers are now charged alongside a motley crew of mobsters, <\/a>including the scion of an infamous Gambino capo. A separate case charges current Miami Heat guard \u201cScary Terry\u201d Rozier with leaving games early to help members of a crooked gambling scheme make hundreds of thousands in illicit profits.<\/a><\/p>\n Billups, Jones and Rozier have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n 1. Diddy beats the top raps after trial exposed his depraved secrets<\/p>\n Sean\u00a0\u201cDiddy\u201d\u00a0Combs crumpled to the floor on his hands and knees in July after a jury stunningly acquitted him<\/a> on racketeering and sex trafficking charges that threatened to keep him behind bars for life.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d the disgraced hip-hop mogul said toward the 12-person panel, holding his hands in a prayer gesture and waving them in their direction approvingly.<\/p>\n Combs was overcome with emotion after learning of the jury\u2019s split verdict, which spared him a possible life sentence. AP<\/p>\n The jury\u2019s dramatic split verdict followed a sensational trial that exposed how Combs had terrorized his girlfriends with repeated beatings, and pressured his lovers to have dehumanizing, drug-and-baby-oil-fueled \u201cfreak off\u201d sex romps with male escorts.<\/p>\n The jury did convict Combs of two counts of breaching the Mann Act \u2014 a federal law making it a crime to transport someone across state lines for prostitution \u2014 and the \u201cI\u2019ll Be Missing You\u201d rapper was sentenced in October to serve 50 months in prison.<\/a><\/p>\n