Top aide to Eric Adams forced out amid sprawling corruption probes

NEW YORK — One of Mayor Eric Adams’ most trusted aides resigned from his post Monday, weeks after federal agents seized his cell phone in a mushrooming investigation into the Democratic mayor’s inner circle — including federal bribery charges against Adams himself.

Timothy Pearson stepped down from his role as senior adviser for public safety — a job that earned him a $257,374 salary, one of the highest in the administration. His resignation, goes into effect this Friday, Oct. 4, according to his resignation letter, which was obtained by POLITICO.

The departure is a victory for some of Adams’ closest advisers, who have been pressuring the mayor to cut ties with Pearson for weeks.

Pearson's letter does not acknowledge the investigations swirling around him. Instead, he wrote that he has "decided to focus on family, self-care, and new endeavors."

Pearson also mentioned his role advising Adams on new technology. POLITICO reported on Sunday that he pushed the fire department to ink a contract with a technology company, Remark Holdings, while he had a close personal relationship with a consultant for the firm.

Adams praised Pearson in a brief statement provided by his press office.

“Tim has had a long career in both the public and private sectors, where he has spent over 30 years keeping New Yorkers safe," Adams said. "We appreciate Tim’s decades of service to this city and wish him well.”

His ouster, which was first reported by The New York Times , marks the fifth high-level departure since federal agents raided the homes and seized the phones of five top city officials in a sprawling corruption probe — and further indicates how grave the situation in City Hall has become.

The mayor forced out his police commissioner, whose home was raided earlier this month by FBI agents, and City Hall’s top attorney quit on a Saturday night , saying in her resignation letter she could no longer effectively do her job. Adams’ schools chancellor, whose home was also raided, announced his resignation last week, and his health commissioner is leaving amid the political chaos as well.

Pearson has served Adams in an influential but nebulous role . He works for the city’s semi-private Economic Development Corporation on paper — a setup allowing him to simultaneously cash in on his NYPD pension from his years on the police force.

In practice, Pearson is afforded control over some of the city’s most important assignments: He helped Adams set up the upper ranks of the NYPD, approves contracts with outside firms for migrant shelters and runs a small office Adams created and tasked with improving municipal services.

He is also one of Adams most problematic aides.

It was in his role as head of the Mayor’s Office of Municipal Services Assessment , which Adams created but never announced — and staffed with police officials — that Pearson was sued four times for allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Yet the mayor has been loath to dismiss longtime allies, even when they come under scrutiny from investigators, as Pearson has.

“We asked him to go in and look in and we saved hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the costs,” Adams once said of Pearson at a press conference. “Everything from security contracts to other contracts.”

But even the mayor’s strong bonds of loyalty appear to have their limits.

At least five advisers close to Adams have been pushing the mayor to fire Pearson, POLITICO reported two weeks ago . Adams’ chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, abruptly resigned earlier this month in part because he would not get rid of the scandal-scarred aide.

Adams and Pearson have known each other for three decades, a friendship forged while they were both serving in the New York City Police Department and evident as soon as Adams won election in 2021. As he was being sworn in the following January, Pearson was one of the celebrants onstage in Times Square.

Problems, however, began shortly after.

After Pearson was brought on in May 2022, a report in The New York Times found he was also collecting a salary from Resorts World Casino, a gaming outfit seeking a casino license from the state. Public disclosure forms reviewed by POLITICO found that Pearson had collected between $250,000 and $500,000 before he resigned his position in August.

The following year, Pearson got into a scuffle with private security guards at a city-run migrant shelter. Two guards were arrested following the melee and got a menacing visit by Pearson while they sat in a jail cell — despite Pearson no longer having any official position within the NYPD. Charges were dropped against the guards, one of whom has accused Pearson of throwing her to the ground by her neck. Pearson, however, is facing an investigation from the city’s Department of Investigation.

DOI is also looking into the four lawsuits that make allegations of intimidation, retaliation and sexual harassment .

And in October, as POLITICO previously reported, Pearson held up the opening of a major migrant shelter in Brooklyn in the hopes of securing a security contract for Bo Dietl, a retired NYPD detective and failed Republican mayoral candidate who is another longtime friend of the mayor.

Pearson was among the City Hall aides who received a visit from FBI agents earlier this month. Officials seized his phone as part of investigations the Manhattan U.S. attorney is conducting into possible corruption in the Adams administration.

Adams himself was indicted Thursday, accused by federal prosecutors of doing political favors for the Turkish government after receiving luxury travel upgrades and illegal campaign contributions.

Adams pleaded not guilty and has defiantly resisted calls to resign.