By: Evan Paretzky

For more than 20 years, New York City officials insisted they had no records about what City Hall knew regarding the deadly toxins released at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Now, in a stunning reversal, city attorneys have acknowledged that documents do exist — and they’ve begun the process of turning them over, the New York Daily News reported.

The disclosure came in a court filing last week, just days after the Daily News revealed that the Department of Investigation (DOI) was preparing to receive “volumes of data” from multiple agencies as part of a City Council–ordered probe into what the city knew about the health risks that have sickened or killed thousands of first responders.

Attorney Andrew Carboy, who represents 9/11 Health Watch, a responder and survivor advocacy group, told the Daily News that the about-face proves victims and their families had been misled for years. “City Hall needs to stop gaslighting September 11th victims and their families about the existence of the documents,” he said. “We now know that they do, in fact, exist.”

For months, the city had fought to dismiss Carboy’s lawsuit, claiming the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had no records. City lawyers even described his case as a “fishing expedition.” Court filings at the time declared that “no responsive records were found.”

But after Carboy sent a judge a copy of the Daily News investigation showing the DOI was preparing to receive materials from city agencies, the city abruptly withdrew its motion to dismiss. Assistant Corporation Counsel Saarah Dhinsa wrote that DEP had “located multiple boxes that are believed to contain at least some responsive records.” No timeline was given for when the material would be made public.

Carboy accused the city of misleading the court. “A DEP staffer swore under penalties of perjury … that no documents could be located. Two attorneys, in separate certifications, then attested … that no documents could be found,” he told the Daily News. “The city then criticized our efforts as baseless.”

911 Health Watch Executive Director Ben Chevat added that “their actions speak louder than words.”

The sudden shift followed action by City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who sponsored a resolution compelling the DOI to investigate city records on 9/11 toxins — the first time the Council has used the City Charter to force such a probe. The Daily News noted that within eight weeks of the review, the DOI had already been inundated with agency responses and was even considering outside help to process the information.

Brewer said the city’s reversal proved the DOI probe is working. “We’ve signed countless letters over the years asking for these documents and we got nothing. Nothing but silence,” she told the Daily News.

Successive city administrations, including the current Adams administration, had resisted releasing documents out of concern they might fuel lawsuits. Mayor Eric Adams himself, in a 2023 letter to members of Congress, acknowledged that records existed but argued that “litigation risks” prevented their release. A mayoral spokesperson defended him, stressing his commitment as a 9/11 first responder to ensuring survivors and families get the care they deserve.

More than 140,000 people are enrolled in the federal WTC Health Program, with about 81,000 suffering certified conditions linked to the toxins that lingered above Ground Zero.