Three federal prosecutors have resigned instead of admitting wrongdoing following suspensions over their handling of the federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams – bringing the number of lawyers who have left the Justice Department in the fallout from the case to 10.

The three who most recently resigned were Assistant U.S. Attorneys Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach and Derek Wikstrom, who were assigned to the department's Southern District of New York.

The Trump administration – not them – mishandled the case, according to a letter from them reviewed by NBC News.

They were suspended after refusing to take part in the Justice Department's move to drop the prosecution against Adams. A federal judge ordered the case permanently dropped last month so that the charges couldn't be used as "leverage" over Adams, who is cooperating with the Trump administration's immigration priorities, the news outlet also reports. 

"Serving in the Southern District of New York has been an honor," the three prosecutors wrote in the letter. "There is no greater privilege than to work for an institution whose mandate is to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. We will not abandon this principle to keep our jobs. We resign."

The former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle R. Sassoon, also resigned due to the attempt to get the charges against Adams dropped.

Adams was charged last year with federal bribery, conspiracy, and campaign finance offenses for allegedly accepting illegal campaign donations from the Turkish government.