Big Trouble at the Microtel: Ex-Commish at Center of Frank Carone Bribe Case

Former city Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins’ name appears nowhere in the 27-page bribery indictment of Frank Carone, former top aide to Mayor Eric Adams. But Jenkins — only identified in the document as City Official #1 — is emerging as a central witness in the case.

Prosecutors allege Carone, a Democratic power broker then serving as the mayor’s chief of staff, “directed” Jenkins to steer a migrant shelter contract to the owner of a Long Island City hotel they say was secretly bribing Carone. Jenkins then overruled his staff’s objections to the hotel and approved an emergency contract that netted the hotel owner more than $6 million amid the migrant crisis.

On Wednesday, Carone’s lawyers made clear they are going to attack that narrative, alleging for the first time that prosecutors are sitting on evidence demonstrating that Carone did not order Jenkins to favor the Long Island City hotel.

As he left the courthouse, Carone declined to describe his conversations with Jenkins, telling The City Reporter: “You know me pretty well. I’m a pretty social person. Do you want me to describe every communication I’ve ever had? Come on.”

That puts Jenkins — who rose from poverty to one of the highest positions in city government, only to resign after ethics questions surfaced —- square in the middle between the prosecution and the defense.

From Shelter to City Hall

In the indictment, prosecutors reference City Official #1 as being the Social Services commissioner who later went to work for a lobbyist firm that Carone opened up after leaving City Hall. Sources familiar with the investigation confirm Jenkins is City Official #1.

Jenkins grew up in poverty and climbed to the top levels of New York City government. For a time when he was a child, he has said, his family lived in a homeless shelter. He rose through the ranks during the mayoral administrations of Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio and was appointed Social Services commissioner by Adams in January 2022.

That appointment put Jenkins at smack in the middle of the Adams’ administration’s struggle to accommodate the waves of asylum seekers that began flooding the city’s shelter system in the spring of 2022. DSS oversees the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), which awarded dozens of migrant-related contracts as the crisis unfolded.

At one point, reports surfaced that Jenkins had misled the Legal Aid Society and City Hall about migrant families being forced to stay overnight in a Bronx intake center, contrary to city policy. He was later chastised by the city Department of Investigation for a “lack of transparency” over the incident.

In the summer and fall of 2022, Jenkins was also heavily involved in helping the Adams administration find places to house migrants — including a 75-unit hotel in Long Island City owned by Yan Po (Andy) Zhu called the Microtel, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn alleged.

At the time, Jenkins’ staff had rejected Zhu’s hotel as too small and for its location in a neighborhood already saturated with shelters.

Prosecutors allege Zhu aggressively courted Carone to reverse the rejection of his hotel, and that, in turn, Carone “directed (Jenkins) to reconsider the Microtel for an Emergency Shelter Contract.”

‘Sham Retainer’

To make their case, they presented a series of text messages depicting Zhu soliciting Carone’s help to win his department’s approval and Carone’s subsequent interactions with Jenkins about the Microtel.

Prosecutors allege that behind the scenes, Zhu entered into what they called a “sham retainer” agreement with Carone’s brother, Anthony, an attorney who also has worked for Carone’s lobbyist firm, Oaktree Solutions. The money went into an account Anthony Carone controlled that paid for Frank Carone’s credit card bills and other personal expenses, the indictment alleges. 

Carone, they allege, ultimately received $120,000 in bribes this way from the hotelier who called him “my big guy.”

On Sept. 22, 2022 there was a phone call between Carone and Jenkins — the only direct contact between the two referenced in the indictment. This would make Jenkins a key witness to spell out what, if anything, Carone said about Zhu’s hotel.

Prosecutors implied that the call is related to the hotel push because one minute after it ended, Jenkins called DHS’ then-first deputy commissioner, who at the time was Molly Park. Park then emailed her subordinates under the subject “Address from Jenkins,” directing them to “take a look” at the Microtel.

In a subsequent text with Carone a few days later, Zhu continued to press Carone about the hotel, writing at one point, “Please help me get done we need to refinance.” The next day Carone’s brother, Anthony, entered the picture, texting Zhu, “I want to talk to you about LIC.”

Nightclub Meeting

Days later, Zhu met with Carone at an unnamed social club, and a few hours later Jenkins met with Carone at the same club, the indictment alleges. Prosecutors don’t reference anything that was said at that meeting — which would again make Jenkins a likely witness to confirm or deny that the hotel came up.

Prosecutors allege that throughout October 2022, Jenkins continued to push staff to approve Zhu’s hotel as a shelter, at one point advising subordinates not to move forward with two other hotels under consideration in the same neighborhood because the Microtel “was the priority.” Days later, his department approved a contract with Zhu’s hotel that was eventually worth $6.8 million.

Lawyer: ‘No Corrupt Agreement’

On Wednesday during a court appearance before U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, one of Carone’s lawyers, Andrew Goldstein, said he believes prosecutors are withholding evidence that would show that Carone never “directed” Jenkins to “reconsider” the rejection of Zhu’s Microtel as a migrant shelter.

Outside court, Goldstein declined to describe this evidence, but said: “We have reason to believe that there is exculpatory information in possession of the government…that contradicts the indictment that would make this a criminal case at all.” 

“The evidence at trial,” he asserted, “is going to show there was no corrupt agreement, that there was no official action that Frank Carone took on behalf of Mr. Andy Zhu and that in fact Mr. Carone did not, in any way, betray his office.”

Jenkins, who resigned as DSS Commissioner in 2023 and went to work for Carone’s firm, Oaktree, did not respond to The City Reporter’s calls. He left Oaktree in August 2024 and is now CEO of Urban Pathways, a non-profit that combats homelessness.

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