Adams’ former legal counsel repeatedly advised key associate who was investigated by FBI on immigration deals

Mayor Eric Adams’ former top legal adviser, Lisa Zornberg, met with another top mayoral aide, Tim Pearson, whose phone was confiscated by the FBI, at least four times to discuss “asylum crisis contracts,” according to an analysis by THE CITY.

Zornberg resigned abruptly and without explanation Saturday evening, 10 days after Pearson’s electronic devices were seized by federal investigators as part of one of four separate legal probes into City Hall.

Most of Zornberg and Pearson’s meetings focused on his role in awarding contracts for migrant shelters. In another session, she advised him on conflict-of-interest rules regarding gifts for city employees.

At least one of the meetings last year seems to have been very urgent. On October 13, Pearson’s schedule noted, “Lisa Zornberg—meeting with you needed ASAP.”

During the morning raids on September 4, the FBI seized electronic devices from Pearson and several other high-ranking Adams associates, including Police Commissioner Edward Cabana, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III, Banks’ brother, Schools Chancellor David Banks, and Banks’ fiancée, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.

It’s unclear what role Zornberg played in the shelter contract process, and the reasons for her abrupt resignation remain a mystery. In her terse letter to the mayor Saturday, she wrote, “I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer effectively serve in my role.”

On Sunday, she refused to come to the door of her Long Island home. Her husband told THE CITY she would not comment on the reasons for her resignation. The mayor also declined to say why Zornberg resigned when confronted by reporters at the African American Day Parade in Harlem.

Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications, also declined to say why Zornberg resigned.

The full scope of the investigation by the Southern District of New York into the mayor’s inner circle is not yet known, but there are indications that federal authorities are looking into, among other things, the awarding of city contracts.

For example, the FBI also seized the phone of Banks’ third brother, Terence, a government relations consultant. Terence Banks had been hired by a Florida-based firm called Saferwatch, which lobbied on behalf of his brothers, Phil and David Banks, to win a contract to place a “panic button” app in the city’s school system.

Phil Banks appears to have taken action after meeting with Saferwatch lobbyist, former City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and last year the NYPD’s school safety unit initiated a pilot program in five schools using a “panic button” app.

The unit’s plan to roll out the app citywide never materialized, and Terence Banks took down the website for his company, The Pearl Alliance, shortly after reporters began asking about it. The Daily News later reported that the FBI had obtained the phone of one of the Saferwatch employees.

As of spring 2022, Phil Banks and Pearson have been deeply involved in helping the mayor deal with the influx of 210,000 migrants into the city. Banks is paid $251,000 as the mayor’s top advisor on public safety, and while Pearson technically works for a quasi-municipal agency, the Economic Development Corp., he is listed as “senior advisor to the mayor for public safety” with a salary of $244,000.

The mayor specifically assigned Pearson, a former New York City police inspector who has been a close associate of Adams for decades, to oversee hundreds of contracts the city awarded to various vendors, including security firms.

Recently, accusations have surfaced that Pearson was possibly expecting something in return for handing out contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. According to a lawsuit filed by some of Pearson’s associates, in late 2022, Pearson began discussing migration contracts and stated, “People are doing very well on these contracts. I have to get my money. Where are my crumbs?”

According to the official schedule, Pearson has visited several shelters, sometimes accompanied by Deputy Mayor Banks. One visit without Banks last October to a former Touro College shelter that had been converted into a shelter in Midtown made headlines when he allegedly grabbed and shoved a security guard who demanded to see his ID. That incident is now the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Investigation.

Zornberg was also involved in Pearson’s contracting activities, appearing four times on its schedule under the topic of “asylum seeker crisis contracts.”

One of the meetings involved Zornberg, the mayor’s chief lawyer, who was advising Pearson on a controversial contract with DocGo, a company the city had hired to run several shelters. Comptroller Brad Lander refused to record the deal, citing what he said were questionable billing practices.

Lander notified Adams of his contract rejection on September 6, 2023. Pearson scheduled a meeting with Zornberg for September 12 but canceled all meetings that day. A September 19, 2023, entry in Pearson’s schedule refers to Zornberg in the subject line “DocGo Strategy Call.”

The remaining meetings between Pearson and Zornberg are less detailed.

Just four days before the Touro brawl, the scheduled meeting between the two was stressed: “We have to meet as soon as possible.”

Then, on October 19, two days after the confrontation with Touro, Pearson’s schedule included another Zornberg meeting on “Asylum Agreements Working Group—Next Steps.”

About a week later, on Oct. 24, Pearson scheduled a meeting with Zornberg about “COIB General Counsel Gift Training.” COIB is the city’s Conflict of Interest Board, which oversees enforcement of the city’s ethics rules.

The disclosure of the FBI raids revealed that Mayor Adams and his team are now the subject of four separate federal investigations, three led by Manhattan District Attorney Damian Williams and one by Brooklyn District Attorney Breon Peace. This is in addition to two major indictments brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on charges of bribery and campaign finance fraud.

So far, four of Adams’ top staffers have resigned: Housing Commissioner Eric Ulrich, two police commissioners, Keechant Sewell and Edward Caban, and now his attorney, Lisa Zornberg.

Additional information provided by Katie Honan.