Anthony ‘Tony’ Herbert, the previous Citywide Public Housing Liaison on the New York Metropolis Mayor’s Workplace beneath Eric Adams, was formally indicted this week with federal fees of committing bribery, kickback, and fraud offenses.
“He allegedly took benefit of his function to line his pockets by providing unfair benefits to sure companies,” mentioned Inner Income Service-Legal Investigation (IRS-CI) Particular Agent in Cost Harry T. Chavis Jr. in an announcement on Tuesday, January 13.
A prison justice organizer, Herbert, 61, is a long-time affiliate of Adams’s. He beforehand ran unsuccessfully for State Meeting in 2014 and Public Advocate in 2021. He moved up from the Mayor’s Group Affairs workplace for Brooklyn to New York Metropolis Housing Authority (NYCHA) liaison from 2022 to 2025. Nevertheless, he was fired in September 2025 when he posted a video on social media saying that the capturing of far-right Republican Charlie Kirk was “karma.”
This marks one other one that was in Adams’s orbit that has been arrested and indicted. This contains different former aides and Brooklynites just like the Mayor’s former Chief Advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and Bishop Lamor Whitehead in 2024.
In response to the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, Herbert allegedly “abused” his place with NYCHA by soliciting $16,000 in kickbacks, or an unlawful fee for a favor. Herbert promised to sway metropolis officers to award a safety firm with metropolis contracts and approve funds to a funeral dwelling director, mentioned the workplace. An government with the safety agency reportedly recorded their conversations.
Herbert additionally allegedly submitted a $20,418 Paycheck Safety Program (PPP) small enterprise mortgage utility for a faux baked items firm in 2021.
“I didn’t do something improper,” Herbert advised CBS New York after courtroom. He maintained that he has longstanding relationships with neighborhood members concerned with the case and was nicely inside his purview.
Herbert was arrested on Jan. 13 and introduced to a decide, the place he pleaded not responsible.
“As charged, he allegedly filed false monetary disclosures with the town, omitting the funds he obtained to hide his prison conduct,” added Division of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber. “I thank the IRS and the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York for his or her partnership on this investigation and for his or her dedication to carry accountable Metropolis staff who abuse their place for their very own acquire.”
“New Yorkers deserve sincere and competent public officers,” mentioned U.S. Lawyer Jay Clayton. “As alleged, at a time when Anthony Herbert was serving as Metropolis Corridor’s liaison to the Metropolis’s public housing residents, he engaged in blatant pay-to-play schemes to complement himself. The men and women of the Southern District of New York are dedicated to holding accountable authorities officers who abuse their positions of belief to learn themselves.”
Herbert’s subsequent courtroom date is scheduled for Jan. 30.
