A federal grand jury is hearing evidence in the corruption investigation of Frank Carone, one of former Mayor Eric Adams’s closest political associates, suggesting that the inquiry is advancing, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
It is unclear whether the investigation will result in criminal charges against Mr. Carone, who parlayed his ties to Mr. Adams into a lucrative consulting business, or other people. But the presentation of evidence to the panel by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn indicates that the long-running inquiry could be moving toward its final phase and that they may seek charges.
Along with F.B.I. agents and other federal investigators, the prosecutors have examined some of Mr. Carone’s business dealings and his time in City Hall, where he served as chief of staff to Mr. Adams during his first year in office. In September 2024, Mr. Adams was himself indicted on corruption charges in a case that was abandoned after President Trump began his second term, but which crippled Mr. Adams’s re-election bid nonetheless.
The full scope of the investigation into Mr. Carone and what potential charges are being weighed remain unclear.
This week, three of the people said, a deputy chief of staff who was close to Mr. Carone when he was in City Hall testified before the grand jury, a possible sign that the prosecutors were nearing the end of their presentation to the panel. The deputy chief of staff had submitted to a voluntary interview with prosecutors in October, said one of the people, who, like the three others with knowledge of the matter, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing inquiry.
Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Mr. Carone, said in a statement that he had done nothing wrong.
“We have not heard any actual allegations, but Frank has nothing to hide because, as anyone who has worked alongside him knows, he is conscientious and principled in how he comports himself and in everything he does,” the statement said.
The investigation is being conducted by the office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr.
Two of the people with knowledge of the matter said that in recent months one focus of the inquiry had been a Long Island City hotel that received city money to house migrants, but it was unclear whether the hotel was still under scrutiny.
A lawyer and powerful figure in Brooklyn Democratic politics who has been involved in a range of business dealings over the years, Mr. Carone played an outsize role in Mr. Adams’s successful 2021 campaign for mayor. Mr. Carone was also deeply involved in Mr. Adams’s ill-fated re-election bid last year.
The inquiry, which has been active in fits and starts since at least the first part of 2024, has examined a range of Mr. Carone’s business activities both before and after he became the chief of staff to Mr. Adams in 2022, several of the people have said.
One early area of focus was Mr. Carone’s consulting and lobbying firm, Oaktree Solutions, which he formed in early 2023 after leaving City Hall, several of the people said. Prosecutors subpoenaed records from some of the firm’s clients. Later in 2024, investigators appeared to focus on Mr. Carone’s real estate partnerships and other business deals, one of the people said.
Representatives for the Eastern District U.S. attorney’s office and the F.B.I. declined to comment on the investigation.
After Mr. Carone left City Hall, Mr. Adams became the first sitting mayor in the modern history of New York City to face criminal indictment.
In fall 2024, federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed an indictment charging him with bribery, conspiracy to receive illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals and wire fraud. Mr. Carone helped raise money for a defense fund to pay the mayor’s legal fees and would go on to help him mount a successful campaign to win Mr. Trump’s sympathies; a short time later, Mr. Trump’s Justice Department abandoned the case.
But for other people who served as senior officials during Mr. Adams’s single term, the legal reverberations — and jeopardy — have persisted.
A series of federal investigations by the same Manhattan prosecutors’ office that indicted the mayor spilled into public view around the time he was charged. And other state and federal inquiries followed, leaving roughly a dozen of his top aides and close associates under scrutiny and resulting in waves of resignations at City Hall. Several of the investigations appear to be continuing.
Separately, Mr. Adams’s former top aide, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, is facing trial on charges of accepting bribes, as is his former buildings commissioner.
And earlier this month, a former aide to the mayor was arrested on charges of taking bribes to steer city contracts to a security company.
Michael Rothfeld contributed reporting.
William K. Rashbaum is a Times reporter covering municipal and political corruption, the courts and broader law enforcement topics in New York.
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