Mayor Adams’ Chief of Staff Frank Carone didn’t disclose work for embattled NYC homeless shelter firm — but vows to fix

Frank Carone, Mayor Adams’ chief of staff, did not disclose his legal work for a scandal-scarred homeless shelter provider in his mandatory financial statement this year — but is now pledging to correct the record after the Daily News alerted him to the omission.

Carone’s financial disclosure form, filed with the Conflicts of Interest Board this spring, lists the State University of New York and the city Department of Health as the only government entities he interacted with in 2021 in his capacity as an attorney at Abrams Fensterman, a high-powered Brooklyn law firm, prior to taking on the role of Adams’ top aide.

But CORE Services Group, a homeless shelter operator that’s under federal investigation over corruption allegations, contracted Carone via Abrams Fensterman last year to serve as its “outside counsel” in dealings with the city Department of Social Services, a spokesman for CORE recently confirmed to The News.

Asked why Carone didn’t list the Social Services Department as an agency he interacted with professionally, an Adams spokesman blamed “badly worded” instructions from the Conflicts of Interest Board, but affirmed that the chief of staff will amend his disclosure to reflect his work for CORE.

“Out of an overabundance of caution, we have already reached out to COIB to amend the filing,” the spokesman said Thursday, using an acronym for the board’s name. “We are always happy to make the necessary adjustments to ensure employee disclosures are accurate and in full compliance of COIB rules.”

The Conflicts of Interest Board’s executive director, Carolyn Miller, declined to comment directly on Carone’s disclosure.

Miller did say the board helps city officials amend their financial disclosures if they’ve accidentally failed to divulge information. She also said a city official who intentionally omits details about their finances can face fines.

Carone’s representation of CORE has not been previously reported, and adds a wrinkle to the myriad legal headaches engulfing the homeless shelter provider.

Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration sued CORE in late 2021 over allegations that its chief executive, Jack Brown, had funneled millions of dollars in city funds through subsidiaries he controlled in order to enrich himself and his relatives. The suit came in response to an October 2021 New York Times report detailing Brown’s alleged self-enrichment scheme.

Before filing suit, de Blasio’s administration announced it would also no longer rely on CORE for homeless services in the city.

Around the same time, federal authorities raided CORE’s Brooklyn offices as part of a criminal investigation into the alleged corruption, as first reported by The News this spring.

CORE’s spokesman said Carone stopped representing the firm in November 2021, shortly before the feds’ Dec. 8 raid of its offices.

Since becoming Adams’ chief of staff in January, Carone has not had any contact with Brown or other CORE officials, according to the mayor’s spokesman.

Before his City Hall job, Carone maintained a sprawling web of prominent clients at Abrams Fensterman, where he was a partner, and also served as the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s top lawyer.

Carone has said Abrams Fensterman, where his brother, Anthony Carone, remains a partner, bought him out from the firm before he started as chief of staff. He has also pledged to recuse himself from any government business with former clients, though he told Politico in May that he’s policing himself on such matters instead of consulting with the Conflicts of Interest Board.

The city’s lawsuit against CORE remains pending, and is now being litigated by Adams’ corporation counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix.

CORE has vehemently denied the city’s accusations and is fighting the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court. The company is also claiming the city still owes it upward of $40 million for shelter services rendered during the pandemic.

Opening arguments in the case were initially set for this month, but CORE filed papers on Aug. 5 asking to postpone them indefinitely in order to facilitate settlement talks with the Adams administration. “The parties would like to use this time to explore possible resolutions of the matter,” CORE lawyer Claude Millman wrote in the filing.

Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for Adams’ Law Department, confirmed settlement discussions are underway, but declined to elaborate, citing the “confidential” nature of the talks.

“We brought this lawsuit to ensure taxpayer dollars were not misused by this contractor,” Paolucci said, “and we are working towards a resolution that is in the best interest of the city.”