A former chief of staff for ex-New York City Mayor Eric Adams was taken into custody on Wednesday as part of a federal bribery case involving a lucrative contract for migrant shelter housing. This development highlights the ongoing scrutiny federal prosecutors have maintained regarding the former mayor\u2019s inner circle, even months after the Democrat departed office.<\/p>\n
The charges filed against Frank Carone follow a series of corruption allegations involving the former mayor and his key aides. While the former mayor himself faced an indictment on bribery and other counts that were subsequently dismissed, Adams is not accused of any wrongdoing in the indictment involving Carone. Prosecutors allege that the former chief of staff abused his authority to secure over $100,000 in payoffs to steer a contract to a hotel that city social service officials had previously flagged as inappropriate.<\/p>\n
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Winik told the court that Carone had been entrusted to manage city government but chose to prioritize his own wealth and status over his public duty. Alongside Frank Carone, other defendants including his brother Anthony Carone, hotel proprietor Yan Po Zhu, and hotel staffer Crystal Chen entered pleas of not guilty to various charges. During the proceedings, Frank Carone\u2019s legal representative, Arthur Aidala, argued outside the courthouse that the prosecution\u2019s case was built upon endless assumptions rather than evidence of specific influence peddling.<\/p>\n
Frank Carone, a long-term political power broker and former attorney for the Brooklyn Democratic Party, is recognized as a primary architect behind Adams\u2019 political ascent. His professional background includes his time as chief of staff in 2022 and his tenure as a political consultant following his departure from the administration. Regarding the current charges, an Adams spokesperson emphasized Carone’s decades of dedication to public service and the legal profession.<\/p>\n
The underlying contract dispute began as the city sought to rapidly increase shelter capacity to accommodate a surge of migrants in 2022. According to prosecutors, Zhu\u2019s hotel secured $6.8 million in city funds despite multiple rejections from the Department of Social Services, which cited the small size of the facility and community objections in the Queens area. Prosecutors claim Carone accepted approximately $120,000 in bribes to intercede, with funds transferred through his brother\u2019s law firm. Evidence cited includes text messages from 2022 and 2023, with prosecutors alleging that Carone attempted to obstruct justice by deleting a message from the hotel owner after learning of the investigation.<\/p>\n
All four defendants were released on bond, with figures ranging from $100,000 to $8 million. In an unrelated matter occurring on the same day, federal authorities executed search warrants at the residences of high-ranking NYPD officials, including Chief James Manhattan South James McCarthy and former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. Law enforcement sources indicated that those searches stemmed from a separate bribery probe and were not connected to the arrest of Frank Carone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Frank Carone, a former top aide to ex-New York City Mayor Eric Adams, faces federal charges for allegedly accepting bribes to steer a city contract toward an unsuitable hotel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[212,209,214,210,213,211],"class_list":["post-661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-bribery-investigation","tag-eric-adams","tag-federal-charges","tag-frank-carone","tag-migrant-shelter","tag-nyc-corruption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fastblogtheme.com\/pressnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}