NEW YORK — Four high-ranking former New York City police officials are accusing Mayor Eric Adams and his top deputies of doling out promotions to unqualified allies as part of a scheme that also involved alleged cash bribes paid to the ex-police commissioner.
In separate lawsuits filed Monday, the former officials — including the NYPD’s one-time chief of detectives — described a culture of rampant corruption and cronyism atop the nation’s largest police department, which was rocked by overlapping federal investigations late last year.
Each of the plaintiffs says that, with Adams’ tacit approval, they were either demoted or forced into retirement after raising concerns about the practices, according to their lawsuits.
A spokesperson for Adams, who is currently running for reelection, said he would review the lawsuits, adding that all of the police department’s leaders are held to the “highest standards.”
Beginning in 2023, the suits allege that Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, a longtime ally of Adams, began bypassing internal hiring regulations to promote dozens of “unqualified friends” to key public safety posts. Inquiries to an attorney for Maddrey were not returned.
At the time, several veteran NYPD officials raised objections, including the department’s chief of detectives, James Essig, who noticed an “unusually high number” of inexperienced transfers to the department’s sex crimes unit, according to his lawsuit.
But when Essig complained to Edward Caban, then the first deputy to the police commissioner, he said he was reprimanded for raising the issue.
After Caban was promoted to police commissioner, he informed Essig, a veteran of the department for four decades, that he would be demoted from his position by five ranks.
According to the suit, Essig later learned Caban was “selling promotions” to hand-picked friends for up to $15,000.
An attorney for Essig, Sarena Townsend, declined to elaborate on the basis of the bribery allegation. Essig resigned in September of 2023 rather than accept the demotion.
In an emailed statement, attorneys for Caban called the bribery allegation “unsupported and reckless,” adding that there was “no merit to the allegations raised in these complaints.”
Caban resigned from his position in September following a raid on his home by the FBI. Maddrey, whose home was also searched by federal agents, stepped down after being accused of demanding sex from a subordinate. Neither has been criminally charged.
A spokesperson for the NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuits also accuse current police officials, including Chief of Department John Chell, of working to squash internal oversight of the mayor’s allies and policing priorities.
In one instance, the NYPD’s former chief of professional standards, Matthew Pontillo, said that an audit of the department’s Community Response Team turned up “troubling patterns” of unconstitutional stops by officers who delayed turning on their body cameras.
After Pontillo raised the finding in a meeting with then-Commissioner Keechant Sewell, Chell pulled him aside and said, “Why’d you have to tell her?” according to the suit.
Sewell met with Adams later that day, according to the suit. She resigned hours later and was later replaced by Caban.
