[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A top advisor to former New York City mayor Eric Adams was arrested on Wednesday morning by federal agents in a massive corruption probe.
Frank Carone, 56, was taken into custody on federal corruption charges in connection with a bribery scheme at his $2 million home.
Carone served as the first chief of staff in Adams' administration before he left to start a lobbying firm.
A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday charged Carone, his brother Anthony and two other individuals with conspiracy, two counts of bribery, use of interstate facilities to commit bribery, wire fraud and money laundering.
They were indicted at a Brooklyn courthouse and released on bond. Carone's bond was set at $2 million, while his brother was released on a $500,000 bond.
The Carone brothers were also charged with obstruction of justice and filing a false tax return.
Prosecutors have alleged that Carone accepted a series of bribes from a Queens hotel owner, Yan Po Zhu, and Zhu's employee, Crystal Chen. The contract was awarded to the hotel in 2022 to house migrants.
Zhu and Chen were also released on bond. Zhu was given an $8 million bond and electronic monitoring, while Chen's bond was set at $100,000.
Prosecutors have alleged that Carone was paid around $120,000 in total by Zhu and Che for the emergency shelter contract.
The money was passed through a law firm owned by his brother, according to the indictment. Anthony was also arrested at his home on Wednesday.
The alleged bribery scheme transpired during a time when New York City experienced an influx of migrant asylum seekers.
City government worked with hotels to secure 'Emergency Shelter Contracts' to combat the lack of housing for those in need.
Prosecutors said that the Carone brothers, Zhu and Chen 'devised and executed a scheme to exploit the City's migrant crisis for profit.'
The four allegedly entered into a 'multimillion-dollar Emergency Shelter Contract' involving Zhu's hotel, the Microtel in Long Island City.
Zhu and Chen had initially failed to secure the contract after hiring a consultant. Prosecutors cited a June 14, 2022, meeting in which the Department of Social Services said its hotel was not an option because there were already enough shelter contracts in Long Island City.
Zhu then allegedly 'leveraged his burgeoning personal relationship' with Carone to secure the contract.
Prosecutors included photos of the two together at Zhu's Long Island residence on June 3, 2022, alleging that the plan was brokered that evening.
Three days later, Zhu allegedly messaged Carone, asking whom he sh6ould contact for approval of his hotel for the shelter program, to which Carone responded, 'Ok standby.'
Prosecutors argued that photos showing Zhu and Carone together, along with text messages about the contract, revealed the alleged bribery scheme. Microtel received a $6.8 million contract in the fall of 2022. Prosecutors alleged that Zhu and Chen then started making bribe payments to Carone.
The Carone brothers are accused of using the bribe payments for personal expenses such as 'travel, dining, fitness memberships, clothing purchases, groceries, and the like,' according to the indictment.
Allegations of federal corruption against Carone were first reported on earlier this year. He denied any wrongdoing at the time, claiming that the investigation was founded on 'baseless accusations' and 'stereotypical accusations.'
Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Carone, told Politico that he had been aware of the federal investigation.
'Frank Carone was part of an administration that publicly challenged what it viewed as the previous White House's dangerous immigration policies and their harmful impact on New York City,' Aidala said.
'Three years ago, after speaking out on these issues, Mr. Carone was notified that he was under investigation by federal authorities.'
'Following an extensive three year investigation that examined numerous aspects of Mr. Carone's personal life, prosecutors ultimately brought these charges. Mr. Carone maintains his innocence.'
Carone has a long history in New York City politics. He served as a counsel to the Democratic Party and was a close ally of Adams during his political career. Carone helped mentor Adams, supporting the former mayor's rise from Brooklyn borough president to his controversial tenure in City Hall.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for Adams, told Politico that the issue was an 'ongoing legal matter' adding that Carone 'has dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession and helping countless individuals, businesses and charitable organizations throughout New York.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to Carone's lawyer for further comment. Contact information for Zhu and Yan's attorneys was not immediately available.
Federal agents also searched the homes of current and former New York Police Department leaders as part of a bribery investigation, sources close to the investigation told the Associated Press. The FBI and the NYPD executed warrants on the home of NYPD Chief of Manhattan South James McCarthy and former Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard, two officials under the Adams investigation, according to the AP's anonymous source.
[The Last Refuge] It did not happen last night folks. It took them another 15 years after they installed Obama to become the legitimate heirs to the political party formerly known as Democrats.
The progressive movement is now branded as "Democrat Socialists of America" (DSA), but those who have followed the arc of this group well understand every single member within DSA is from the Occupy Wall Street / Anarchy movement that preceded it.
They’re the political wing of the American branch of the international umbrella communist movement, rather than any specific historic variation favoured by this or that group of pseudo-intellectuals, I believe.
Fingers are being pointed toward New York as the epicenter of the new Democrat Party Headquarters of DSA, which is a fitting location of focus given the OWS origin.
The front line of the DSA movement consists of 18 to 30-year-olds, mostly white, urban, upper-middle-income activists, carrying Macbooks with anarchist stickers and physical attire resembling a blend of hipster ’grunge’ and skateboard beanie resistance. They don’t shower much and love to talk about AOC and Bernie on Social Media.
Don’t belittle them, they are authentic. They don’t misunderstand things; they bought into the nonsense and genuinely believe the popular narrative sold to them since High School that capitalism is horrible and Communism or Socialism is the preferred system of government.
This is the DSA co-chair. Let me summarize what he says in this video:
We’re using the Democratic Party as a ballot-access vehicle, not because we share its goals. We build our own organization, get elected under the Democratic label, caucus with Democrats when it’s useful,… pic.twitter.com/zYwsv4J8Bt
The Democratic Socialists of America have never had much use for democracy. The organization has supported the Cuban regime and its crackdown on dissidents, backed Nicolás Maduro’s “Venezuela Solidarity” movement, defended North Korea against America’s pursuit of its “imperial interests” on the Korean Peninsula, and alleged that Russia’s expansionist war is the result of NATO’s “imperialist expansionism.” After 10/7, the organization evolved from a bunch of blinkered old communists into an antisemitic hate group.
#5
The civil war in the Democratic Party between the DSA and 'actual' democrats should be fun to watch and should weaken both in the years to come, if not sooner.
I expect that a lot of working class moderates who skipped the last NYC Mayoral election aren't going to skip the next one.
I also expect more business to leave DSA run cities and states making it difficult to impossible for the DSA to deliver on their promises.
#6
Less we forget when Socialism (USSR) cranked up the Democrat party started up with Social Security, Gov. Healthcare, IRS income tax rates to take $$$$$, all beyond the scope allowed in the constitution.
#9
Less we forget when Socialism (USSR) cranked up the Democrat party started up with Social Security, Gov. Healthcare, IRS income tax rates to take $$$$$, all beyond the scope allowed in the constitution.
Social Security started with Franklin Roosevelt, a man who was quite taken with Joe Stalin. Social Security is little more than Big Brother telling us he doesn't trust us with our own money so he's going to take a good chunk of it away from us as we earn it so he can dole it back out to us in our old age in amounts that he sees fit. And if we croak before we get to collect all that we paid into this little scam, that's tough. Whatever interest that money would have earned for us is never earned for anybody because the government steals it and squanders it and then takes even more money from our children because there's nothing left for him to keep making payments to us. Old Joe would have been proud.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/25/2026 19:09 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
