Top New York City mayoral aide hit with second lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, retaliation

NEW YORK — A top aide to Mayor Eric Adams is facing another lawsuit alleging discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation stemming from his stewardship of a mysterious mayoral office focused on policing city agencies from within.

And at one point that aide — Timothy Pearson, a former NYPD inspector — shared a desire to earn money from contracts doled out by the Adams administration despite his prominent role in City Hall, according to the suit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan Wednesday.

“People are doing very well on these contracts. I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?” Pearson allegedly told retired NYPD sergeant Michael Ferrari, who filed the lawsuit, and another staffer, according to the complaint.

After that, per the complaint, coworkers would refer to Pearson as “Crumbs.”

The suit is the second to be filed this year accusing Pearson of harassment and retaliation and provides further clues into the inner workings of the Mayor’s Office of Municipal Services Assessment that he led. News of the suit was first reported by the Daily News.

In the complaint, Ferrari alleges he witnessed or was told of Pearson sexually harassing female colleagues in the services assessment office — including a retired sergeant who filed a separate lawsuit in March — and was eventually tasked by a higher-up with monitoring Pearson’s behavior around women in the office.

“The hostile work environment surrounding the sexual harassment carried over to every member of the team regardless of gender,” the complaint read.

Ferrari — who is not claiming he was a victim of Pearson’s unwanted advances — alleged that Pearson often bragged about punishing members of the NYPD who he felt slighted by, which the suit contends was a way to intimidate staff at the services assessment office.

After a blowup with another leader in the office over allegations of sexual harassment, Ferrari said in the complaint he asked to transfer out of the services assessment unit and was subsequently demoted back to patrol. With his career derailed, he alleges, he retired from the NYPD.

The city’s Law Department said it would review the suit once it is served.

“We hold all public servants to the highest standards,” mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement.

In the past, the mayor’s team has declined to provide basic information about Pearson’s role in city government.

On Nov. 3, for example, former mayoral spokesperson Charles Lutvak told POLITICO that Pearson did not work for the municipal services assessment office at all, despite both past reports and claims in two lawsuits now indicating Pearson played a leading role at the office.

Wednesday’s complaint, for example, indicates Pearson had a large corner office opposite Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks at 375 Pearl St., the location where Adams has also maintained a clandestine office.

Wednesday’s suit follows a related set of allegations raised in a March court filing. In that case, another retired NYPD sergeant who worked with Ferrari alleges Pearson sexually harassed her and derailed her career when she rebuffed his efforts. The case also shed light on an abrupt leadership change at the office that was previously reported on by POLITICO.

Pearson is one of the mayor’s closest aides. The two overlapped at the NYPD, where Adams retired as a captain and Pearson as an inspector. And the mayor brought his old friend aboard city government in 2022, hiring him at the city’s Economic Development Corp. at a salary of $242,600.

Because the EDC is a quasi-governmental body, Pearson was able to sidestep state laws prohibiting government employees from collecting a salary and a pension. And for the first eight months of his tenure, he was also being paid as a security consultant by Resorts World New York City Casino, an organization currently vying for a new gaming license — a process that involves decisions from both city and state government. He stepped down from that role after a report in The New York Times.

Despite Pearson’s multiple turns in the headlines, Adams has remained steadfast in his support.

“As a person who was in the Trade Center when the buildings collapsed and saved a great deal of people in guiding them out and protecting the city for the amount of time he has, I think he is due due process,” Adams said during an unrelated press conference in March.