Frank Carone, a former top adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, has been indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges, accused of accepting $120,000 in bribes from a hotelier to secure a city contract for a migrant shelter. The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, also names hotelier Yan Po “Andy” Zhu, his business manager Crystal Chen, and Carone’s brother, Anthony Carone, as defendants.
According to the indictment, Zhu leveraged his relationship with Carone to obtain a lucrative one-year contract worth $6.825 million for his Queens Microtel hotel to serve as a temporary migrant shelter in 2022. The city's Department of Social Services had initially rejected Zhu's bid due to a saturation of existing shelters in the area, local opposition, and the hotel's smaller size compared to typical shelter facilities.
Prosecutors allege that Zhu invited Carone to his Long Island mansion on two occasions in June and August 2022. Following the first visit, Zhu allegedly began texting Carone, urging him to intervene with the Department of Social Services. A month after the second visit, Zhu again pressed Carone to push for the contract. The indictment claims that Carone only received the first of 12 monthly $10,000 bribe payments from Zhu after he allegedly pressured the DSS commissioner to approve the Microtel contract in November 2022.
The $120,000 in alleged bribe money was used by Carone to pay off his American Express credit card bills, the court documents charge. Photographs included in the indictment show Carone at Zhu's mansion, including one in a wine cellar stocked with hundreds of bottles.
Crystal Chen allegedly facilitated the bribe payments, while Anthony Carone is accused of acting as a middleman, receiving funds in his law firm's account and then transferring them to his brother's credit cards and through checks.
All four defendants pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy, bribery, and obstruction of justice during their arraignments Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Carone's lawyers stated that the allegations were "utterly misguided" and that their client served the city honorably, having had no role in granting the migrant shelter contract at the center of the charges. They expressed belief that a speedy trial would vindicate Frank Carone.