Brooklyn power broker’s no-interest loan bailed out Eric Adams music showcase ahead of mayoral run
A Brooklyn power broker in the running for a job in Eric Adams’ new administration had his law firm make a $50,000 no-interest loan to save a summer concert series closely tied to the mayor-elect, emails obtained by the Daily News reveal.
Frank Carone, a lawyer for the Brooklyn Democratic Party and partner at the politically connected Abrams Fensterman law firm, has served as both Adams’ lawyer and fund-raiser. Emails obtained by The News through a Freedom of Information request shed new light on Carone’s close ties to the Brooklyn borough president and future mayor.
In the summer of 2019, Carone and his law firm came to the rescue of the Wingate Concert Series, which serves as an Adams showcase, after it ran into financial trouble. Adams regularly appeared onstage at the popular annual shows, which have featured the likes of Slick Rick and R&B star Monica. Promotional flyers prominently credited Adams for organizing the free event.
Adams sponsored the series through the borough president’s office and his nonprofit, One Brooklyn. In 2017, he tapped the nonprofit Make Music New York to run the concerts.
Over the next three years, Make Music’s budget ballooned from less than $200,000 to nearly $1 million, and Borough Hall’s annual contribution doubled — from $100,000 to $200,000 — making Adams’ office the group’s top government benefactor, records show.
But in 2019, Make Music’s expenses shot up by $300,000, according to public records.
For the show to go on, the nonprofit needed money fast.
Enter Carone and his politically plugged-in law partner Howard Fensterman. Adams’ deputy, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, introduced them to the head of Make Music New York, James Burke.
“They understand the urgency,” Lewis-Martin wrote to the three men in an introductory email on June 20, 2019. “When others fail, Howard and Frank deliver.”
Carone and Fensterman would provide “an extremely low interest bridge loan” to be returned “in several months to just under a year at the most,” she wrote.
That “low interest” $50,000 loan from the law firm to Make Music New York turned out to mean no interest.
The loan was repaid at the end of August 2019, according to Burke.
George Arzt, a spokesman for Carone, said the high-priced Brooklyn lawyer, has “always complied with all legal and ethical obligations when it comes to professional and governmental rules and regulations.”
“[Carone] signed a promissory note with the concert organizers to bridge the gap in time between when entertainers were retained and when government funding came through to cover the costs. Frank was not only paid back in full, but his law firm has a long history of charitable support for events such as the concert series,” he said.
Adams is now considering Carone, a longtime fixture in the Brooklyn political scene, for a senior position at City Hall. Politico first reported Carone was in the running for the job.
The hundreds of pages of emails obtained by The News show that Carone was a reliable ally of the borough president’s office. In addition to the concert loan, Adams and his supporters used Carone’s law office earlier and more frequently for gatherings than previously known. Carone, meanwhile, enjoyed a direct line of communication with Adams’ top adviser as he worked for clients with business before the borough president.
Starting in 2014 — the year Adams took office — Carone regularly reached out on behalf of developers looking to get violations lifted and permits approved. Lewis-Martin, Adams’ right-hand woman, repeatedly arranged meetings with top brass at the Department of Buildings on issues as minor as an illegal billboard in Sunset Park and as major as an apartment complex replacing Long Island College Hospital.
From 2016 to 2018, the emails show Carone and Lewis-Martin in the middle of a regulatory battle over the controversial East Williamsburg nightclub Avant Gardner. The club was a client of Carone’s firm.
In one email — following a building inspection that found gas and electrical work done without a permit in June 2016 — Lewis-Martin pledged to confer with then-Buildings Department Brooklyn Commissioner Ira Gluckman, writing: “I am actually on the road but will call Gluckman to see if anything can be done.”
Adams spoke in support of the 6,000-capacity outdoor club, which is now open and hosting big names including Skrillex, Christina Aguilera and David Guetta.
There does not appear to be anything illegal about Carone’s deep ties to Borough Hall under Adams. But John Kaehny, executive director of the good-government group Reinvent Albany, described the arrangement as “unseemly.”
“I think it should be illegal because there’s an implied quid pro quo,” said Kaehny.
He added that weak federal laws contribute to a culture of influence peddling.
“There shouldn’t be this pay-to-play culture in Brooklyn politics,” New Kings Democrats spokesman Tony Melone said. “Individuals or groups that contribute to candidates or fund candidates’ events shouldn’t get special treatment.”
A senior adviser to Adams, Stefan Ringel, maintained that the future mayor and his Borough Hall staff did nothing wrong.
“Every interaction that Brooklyn Borough Hall has had with Frank Carone and Abrams Fensterman followed all ethics rules and guidance, the details of which have been shared to the press in full transparency,” he said.
Arzt, Carone’s spokesman, added that “the Borough President’s office is open and available to provide information to whoever asks, and Frank’s outreach was to exchange information that would help him represent his client to the best of his ability.”
Though he officially announced his mayoral run in November 2020, Adams made no secret during his two terms as borough president that he planned to run for mayor. His career has, in large part, been aided by Carone, who, along with Carone’s family members and Abrams Fensterman coworkers, have given more than $80,000 to Adams’ campaigns.
Adams drew scrutiny during his mayoral run for regularly using the Abrams Fensterman office to campaign. Records show the Adams campaign paid the law firm $55,700 for legal services and just $722 to use the office.
The emails obtained by The News show the arrangement predates Adams’ mayoral campaign announcement. In one message, Lewis-Martin asked to use the Abrams Fensterman office on four dates in May 2017, 3½ years before Adams announced he was running for mayor. Carone also sent out an invite for a VIP meet-and-greet with Adams at the Abrams Fensterman office on April 18, 2018. It was not clear why Adams used the law office or if he reimbursed the firm.
Carone has long been among the most connected insiders in Brooklyn politics.
The News previously reported that Carone once worked for an obscure mortgage firm that later gave loans to Mayor de Blasio for his two Park Slope houses. He also raised tens of thousands for de Blasio’s political career and represented two shady homeless shelter operators seeking multimillion-dollar paydays from the city, which they ultimately received. Carone has had significant access to de Blasio over the years as well.
Concert money and office space weren’t Lewis-Martin’s only asks of Carone.
On June 13, 2016, Lewis-Martin tapped Carone for $5,000 to fund a dinner for Adams’ nonprofit One Brooklyn. That request was written just above a boilerplate disclaimer stating, “Your support will not affect any future business dealings or the disposition of other matters between your organization and the Brooklyn borough president’s office.”
All Carone wrote in response was a reminder to his staff to cut the check.
