Legal defense

A family affair: Carones give to legal defense fund in the nick of time

The family of Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff donated $15,000 to the fund weeks before a prohibition would have kicked in.

By IRIE SENTNER

A firm run by Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff became a city lobbying outfit just weeks after he and his relatives gave $15,000 to Adams’ legal defense fund. The arrangement alarmed a government watchdog group, while highlighting the murky ethics of contributing to a politician’s attorney fees.

Between Nov. 30 and Dec. 5, POLITICO’s analysis of public records show Frank Carone — who is also chairing Adams’ 2025 reelection campaign — along with his wife, Diana, and his brother and business partner Anthony each made maximum contributions of $5,000 to Adams’ Legal Defense Trust. The fundraising vehicle was created to help the mayor pay private lawyers representing him amid a federal probe of his 2021 campaign.

The next month, as first reported by the Daily News Tuesday, several employees of Oaktree Solutions registered as city lobbyists — a move that automatically landed the Carone brothers, who helm the firm, on a database of people doing business with municipal government. (Frank Carone himself is registered to only lobby state officials.)

People in the city database, along with their spouses, are barred from giving to legal defense trusts. But because the Carones donated before appearing on the list, they were able to evade the prohibition. (Carone’s mother also made a $5,000 donation to the legal defense trust last year.)

“It’s unfortunately par for the course with the Adams campaign. It’s routine practice for them to game the ethics and conflict of interest and campaign finance rules,” John Kaehny, executive director of the government reform group Reinvent Albany, said of the Carones’ donations. “They’ve been doing that since before day one.”

“But Frank Carone is well-practiced in the letter of the law and heeding the letter of the law and disregarding the spirit of the law,” Kaehny added. “And that’s what they do.”

Unlike traditional campaign giving, which is regulated by the city Campaign Finance Board, legal defense trusts allow donors to give to public servants under the oversight of the Conflicts of Interest Board — a configuration borne out of the legal troubles of former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Vito Pitta, the attorney who oversees Adams’ legal fund, said it has complied with the law.

“Before depositing a check or money order donation and following receipt of a credit card donation, the Trust obtains a signed donation statement from a donor and reviews a number of COIB specified databases to determine if a donation is prohibited, including the Doing Business Database,” Pitta said in a statement to POLITICO.

Donors can give up to $5,000 each to legal defense trusts, offering another way to support a city official outside the electoral campaign finance system.

Frank Carone stepped down as Adams’ chief of staff in December 2022 and, along with his brother Anthony, started Oaktree Solutions — a white glove consulting, communications and lobbying firm in Manhattan. City law prohibits former civil servants like Carone from lobbying their former city agency for one year. Anthony Carone and 10 employees registered as lobbyists with Oaktree on Jan. 1, according to public records.

Because Oaktree Solutions was on file as a city lobbyist, both of the Carones’ names appeared on the Doing Business Database on Feb. 9, according to Ana Placino, spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services.

After Carone left his City Hall post last January, he told POLITICO he “will not interact with City Hall at all.”

“I’ll talk to the mayor about things that are personal to the mayor or relevant to him personally, not personal or relevant to me or my personal business life,” he added at the time.

In a statement to POLITICO, Carone said he registered as a lobbyist with the state “in an effort to be transparent,” but said he would not lobby the mayor’s office himself.

“I do not plan on lobbying other governmental bodies and/or agencies at the moment, but will not foreclose the possibility that that may change as circumstances change or so require,” he added.

Oaktree’s list of lobbyists is stacked with former city and state government officials. Ariel Palitz, who oversees the firm’s hospitality and intergovernmental affairs, served as the city’s first nightlife mayor under Adams. Gary Jenkins, the managing director for not for profit and social services, was Adams’ Social Services commissioner. Senior Strategic Adviser Jason Goldman was chief of staff to the New York City Council under Speaker Corey Johnson. Jeff Lewis, managing director of policy and strategy, worked as chief of staff to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The firm reported 13 lobbying retainers totaling $146,500 per month so far this year, according to state records. According to Carone, reported lobbying clients constitute a small portion of the firm’s business.

Oaktree’s lobbying clients include Brooklyn-based real estate powerhouse Slate Property Group, nonprofit health insurance provider Amida Care, mass-texting software company AlertTek and Upper East Side Jewish temple Congregation Emanu-El.

A couple of the clients already have good relationships with Adams.

In June 2022, the executive director of Destination Tomorrow, a Bronx-based LGBTQ center, introduced Adams at a news conference outside the center where Adams announced nearly $7 million for LGBTQ services.

A year earlier, near the beginning of Adams’ mayoral campaign, Slate’s principal David Schwartz invited the then-Brooklyn Borough President to speak at the Slate offices, and his campaign brought in $20,000 that day, the Times reported. Six months later, Adams endorsed a zoning change Schwartz had been pushing to build a tower in downtown Brooklyn.