One of Mayor Eric Adams’ top advisers wanted a piece of the lucrative migrant contracts doled out by City Hall, allegedly asking “where are my crumbs?” a new lawsuit claims.
Former NYPD inspector Timothy Pearson — who’s already embroiled in a sexual harassment case — allegedly wanted to use his influence in an obscure, newly created office overseeing city agencies to make a buck, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“Do you know how these contracts work?” longtime Adams ally Pearson allegedly asked some of the employees of the unit in October 2022. “People are doing very well on these contracts. I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?”
“Did this guy… really just say he needs to get his?” one of the employees allegedly remarked to Michael Ferrari, who also works in the unit and filed the lawsuit.
Soon after the exchange, which was described in the suit as “incredibly awkward,” Pearson would soon take the reins of the unit from Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks, and Ferrari and others in the Municipal Services Office referring to him only as “crumbs” behind his back.
“Tim Pearson is so protected by City Hall that he felt comfortable openly asking for his cut of City contracts in front of three NYPD supervisors he barely knew,” Ferrari’s attorney John Scola said. “It is this same entitlement and protection which led Pearson to believe that he could sexual harass any woman in the office with impunity.”
The lawsuit is the second in as many months accusing Pearson of misconduct.
In a March suit, former cop Roxanne Ludemann alleged the mayor’s senior adviser sabotaged her career after she rebuffed his sexual advances.
Pearson’s alleged pervy behavior became so bad that a department chief created a system to ensure he was never alone with women in the office, the suit charges.
Ferrari was allegedly tapped by the leaders in the office “to ensure that he does not sexually harass the women in the office,” the suit said.
“We hold all public servants to the highest standards,” said City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak. “We will review the lawsuit.”
The latest suit describes Pearson as braggadocious mayoral aide who threw around his power inside the NYPD and other city agencies while he worked in the mysterious unit that started at 375 Pearl St.
In one story recalled by Ferrari, Pearson was “angry” that a police sergeant questioned why he was getting gas at a precinct and contacted the commanding officer to get him in trouble as a result.
“I took care of him,” Pearson would often say following similar stories, the suit alleges.
