A shadowy confidante to Mayor Eric Adams is no longer in charge of city migrant contracts — the latest high-level shakeup as the vice of federal scrutiny tightens around City Hall.
Top adviser Tim Pearson’s role in doling out the lucrative migrant services contracts has been taken by Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, the mayor revealed during his weekly Q-and-A Tuesday.
But Adams made clear the switcheroo isn’t because he doesn’t trust Pearson, who sources said is under federal scrutiny for potential kickbacks in awarding migrant contracts.
He instead sang Pearson’s praises and promised to give The Post a list of “clear examples” of contracts his decades-long friend renegotiated to the city’s benefit.
“The goal is to make sure sure we save taxpayer dollars, and I think we’ve done a great job of bringing down that cost,” he said.
City Hall officials could not immediately provide Adams’ promised examples.
Last week, the mayor maintained, without providing evidence, that Pearson’s work had saved the city mountains of cash.
“We asked him to go in and look in and we saved hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the costs, everything from security contracts to other contracts,” Adams said.
But Pearson’s role overseeing migrant security contracts has has long drawn suspicions, even before the feds began eyeing accusations he picked contractors in exchange for kickbacks.
One city official — Chief Business Diversity Officer Michael Garner — had boasted during an internal meeting months ago that Pearson gave out 20 migrant security deals in one week alone.
An April lawsuit contended Pearson told workers in his obscure city unit, the Municipal Service Assessment, that he was looking to line his own pockets.
“People are doing very well on these contracts,” Pearson said, according to the lawsuit.
“I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?”
The mayor has so far resisted pressure to oust Pearson, among other officials such as Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, under federal investigation.
His reluctance apparently was the final straw for city Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg, who resigned last week after sources said she pushed for the ouster of Pearson and Banks.
Adams spent much of his weekly news conference this week trying to maintain a business-as-usual facade, arguing recent events such as the feds raiding his interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon over 20-year-old documents aren’t a distraction for day-to-day operations.
The Q-and-A came after it was revealed that the feds expanded a Turkey influence probe into five more foreign nations, the city’s sheriff is under scrutiny for an alleged pay-to-play scheme and two high-profile commissioners are eyeing the exits.
And all that was only Monday.
The drip-drip of revelations and scandal has turned into a near daily deluge eroding Adams’ administration after the shocking Sept. 4 federal raids that saw a raft of top officials, including then-NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, have their devices seized.
The raids showed the feds weren’t just investigating Adams’ ties to Turkey or campaign fundraising, but potential wider corruption among a cadre of City Hall honchos with longtime ties to the mayor and problematic histories, family members or both.
But in Adams’ telling, he still loves his job.
“I’m more excited now being mayor than I was when I took my oath of office in the beginning,” he said.
