Adams’ confidante Frank Carone inks another deal with real estate big — advocates give it a wary eye

Mayor Adams’ former chief of staff, Frank Carone, has inked a consulting deal with Related Companies, one of the biggest players in the city’s real estate sector — a development that has good-government advocates concerned about the potential for influence peddling.

Carone, who worked as one of Adams’ top lieutenants for a year before leaving to launch his Oaktree Solutions consulting firm, remains close to the mayor and is serving as chairman of his 2025 reelection campaign. He and a spokesperson for Related confirmed Monday that the company retained Carone’s firm to provide “strategic advice and ideas.”

Related has several major developments in the works that will require city approvals — one of which is a plan for a new 25,000-seat soccer stadium and housing development in Queens.

The company has been actively lobbying City Hall in recent months through its own in-house operation and the Kasirer firm, according to city records. Carone is not listed as a lobbyist for Related in city records — such an arrangement would be prohibited under ethics rules — but the consulting deal between Oaktree and Related has raised eyebrows among the city’s political class.

“He has the revolving door issue of being the mayor’s former chief of staff, and perhaps more importantly, he’s running the campaign, which gives him great access to the mayor,” John Kaehny, who heads the good-government group Reinvent Albany, said of Carone. “That’s probably what Related and others are paying him for. Whether he’s doing anything that violates ethics law is another question.”

Under ethics law, Carone is prohibited from lobbying the Adams’ administration until January, but advocates like Kaehny and city politicos believe his status as a consultant for entities with business before the city sends a message to both the mayor and those in his administration.

.

“Obviously, Oaktree Solutions being hired by Related is concerning because they have so much business before the city,” said one concerned Council member, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of political retribution.

Another complicating factor, Kaehny said, is Carone’s role in Adams’ reelection bid.

“It also means he’s in a position to solicit contributions for the mayor, which puts him in very murky territory because he’s wearing two hats,” Kaehny said. “That deserves scrutiny.”

But Carone and his team say he is perfectly within his rights — and the law — to proceed with arrangements like his consulting gig with Related.

When asked about the sort of criticisms he has received since leaving the administration, Carone voiced exasperation and said he doesn’t foresee there being a law that would prevent him from doing what he’s doing.

“There’s never going to be a law preventing me from using my thoughts to help people solve problems and create strategies to help their organizations,” he said. “I can use my thoughts however I like as long as I’m not betraying a confidence.”

Owen Stone, a spokesman for Carone, added that Carone’s business has been built “well within the applicable guidelines.”

Related has at least three big development plans currently in the works, all of which require sign-off in one form or another from the city.

One, in the Willets Point section of Queens, could result in a new 25,000-seat stadium for the soccer team New York City Football Club, 2,500 new affordable homes and over 40,000 square feet of public open space. That plan, which Carone helped hammer out in his role as Adams’ chief of staff, will need to be approved through the city’s byzantine land-use process to become a reality.

A second development Related is pursuing involves its partnership with the Las Vegas gambling company Wynn Resorts to develop a casino in Hudson Yards. For that to happen, Related will need to secure one of three casino licenses issued by the state and will have to win support from a six-person community advisory committee to which Mayor Eric Adams will appoint one representative.

A third plan would involve the demolition of the Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Manhattan, two public housing developments that would be replaced with public and mixed-use apartments. That plan also has to go through the city’s land-use process.

A source with knowledge of the agreement with Related said Carone will not be involved in the company’s casino bid and that he had no prior involvement in the public housing deal.

Public records show that Related — either through its own in-house lobbying operation or Kasirer — has targeted city officials on a variety of subjects, including the Willets Point development and “issues related to affordable housing.” Among their recent targets are Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Adams’ deputy chief of staff Menashe Shapiro, who reported directly to Carone during Carone’s year-long City Hall tenure.

In 2022, during his time as chief of staff, Related sought out Carone as well. According to city records, Carone was listed as a target of Related’s lobbying efforts around Willets, “city governance” and “development and economic policies,” among other matters.

Related is not the only high-profile client Carone has locked down since leaving City Hall last December.

Just six months into launching Oaktree, he’s been retained by the SL Green Realty Corporation and the Durst Organization, two of the biggest real estate companies in the city.

Carone’s responsibilities with SL Green include helping it with its own bid for a Caesars Palace casino in Times Square, a deal first reported by Politico.

The high-profile firm hired Oaktree even after suing Financial Vision Group, a separate company Carone co-founded, as first reported in The News. In February, a Manhattan judge ruled in SL Green’s favor in that case, ordering Financial Vision to cough up more than $726,000 to settle the long-running rent debt.