1 hour ago
3
Ex-Mayor Eric Adams’ top advisor used his multi-million-dollar Florida mansion to secure a seven-figure bond after he was busted on sprawling fraud allegations – as court papers revealed desperate ways the alleged cronies tried to keep investigators at bay.
Frank Carone, 56, put up his $4.7 million Boca Raton beach house to cover the $2 million bond after he was arrested Wednesday, and was released under stiff terms restricting his travel to New York and Florida.
Carone – who served as Adams’ chief of staff in 2022 – was arrested for allegedly taking about $120,000 in bribes from a Queens hotelier who he allegedly helped secure a $6.825 million one-year city contract to run a migrant shelter.
His own brother – 54-year-old Anthony Carone — was also arrested for allegedly funneling the cash from the hotelier — Yan Po “Andy” Zhu — through his law firm under “sham retainer agreements,” according to an indictment from the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
All of the defendants posted bail – including 51-year-old Zhu, who faced an $8 million bond. Zhu’s hotel business manager, 39-year-old Crystal Chen, was also arrested and charged.
Carone allegedly used his power in City Hall to secure Zhu the lucrative housing contract, even though his Long Island City Microtel Inn had been previously rejected because it was too small and right next to another shelter, court papers alleged.
But after Zhu invited the Carone brothers for a series of visits to his Nassau McMansion – where he “leveraged his burgeoning personal relationship with,” court documents read — the contract soon came rolling in to the Microtel.
But Carone allegedly then began to receive $10,000 payments each month from an account at his brother’s law firm – just as Zhu was paying the brother the same amount under their supposed retainer contract, prosecutors alleged.
That cash allegedly went to Carone’s credit card bills – which he doled out on dining, travel, memberships, fitness, clothing, groceries and other expenses.
The alleged bribes ended in Sept. 2023 – and by Spring 2024 things began to unravel after a grand jury probe was underway into the alleged scheme.
Carone and his brother allegedly tried to cover their tracks by trying to pass them off as loans – even writing up a promissory note backdated to 2022, according to prosecutors.
By 2025 Zhu and Chen were being searched for evidence – and the pair allegedly resorted to apparently desperate measures to hide.
Zhu allegedly covered his face and waved his hands around when investigators tried to use his phone’s face-ID to unlock the device – while Chen allegedly acted as if she was happy to comply with a phone search, then pretended to forget her passcode.
“Instead of unlocking it, Chen took a long pause and stated that she could not remember her password,” prosecutors wrote. “Chen then began entering multiple incorrect passwords into the phone, placed the phone on a table, and stated that she was locked out of the phone.”
“After agents told Chen that, among other things, they believed that she was lying about not remembering her password, Chen unlocked her phone,” they added.
Both Carones, Zhu and Chen are charged with conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, federal program bribery, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice and subscribing to a false tax return. Each face up to 20 years behind bars.
Carone denied the charges, with his attorney Arthur Aidala calling the charges a “Frankenstein indictment” after a court appearance Wednesday.
“Mayor Adams and Frank Corona, and that administration fought to stop the influx of migrants. We forget so quickly what a crisis it truly was,” the attorney said. “Frank had nothing to do with who was getting these, these assignments to where the migrants were going to stay. He was just doing his job as the chief of staff.”
Carone himself dodged questions as he left the Brooklyn federal courthouse, but did offer one insight about his plans.
“I’m just hoping I have a nice dinner tonight,” he said.
English (US)