The sudden resignation of Mayor Eric Adams top lawyer came after she recommended that three embattled City Hall aides under intense scrutiny by the feds needed to go, sources said Monday.
Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg reached her last straw with Hizzoner when he balked at pushing out the trio: Phil Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety; Tim Pearson, a powerful Adams advisor in charge of migrant contracting; and Winnie Greco, the city’s director of Asian Affairs.
An exhausted Zornberg had been eyeing an exit from the chaotic and increasingly troubled administration — and opted then to resign in a decision made public late Saturday, according to political sources.
“I am tendering my resignation, effective today, as I have concluded that I can no longer effectively serve in my position,” Zornberg wrote in a resignation letter.
No damning new evidence emerged over the weekend to prompt her shocking departure, a source said.
Insiders with knowledge of Zornberg’s departure cast a portrait of a mayor unwilling to cut loose potentially problematic aides, even after the feds dramatically raided their homes.
Zornberg, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York — the office leading a number of probes surrounding the Adams administration — recommended that Banks follow in former NYPD commish Edward Caban’s footsteps and resign, sources said.
Caban, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, stepped down last week under pressure from City Hall after federal agents seized his electronic devices, along with those belonging to Pearson, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Banks and Banks’ brothers Terence Banks and Schools Chancellor David Banks.
Zornberg also argued she couldn’t ethically represent Pearson and Greco after finding the pair had separately lied on financial disclosure forms, according to sources.
Greco had not disclosed her sources of income previously, and even put down an incorrect address, sources said. Her home was raided by the feds during February in a probe out of the Eastern District of New York centered around a potential illegal straw donor scheme — a separate investigation from the Sept. 4 raids targeting Caban and a cadre of top Adams officials.
With Pearson, Zornberg was troubled that he never disclosed that he was working for both the city and the Resorts World Casino, insiders said.
Zornberg’s recommendation that Pearson be pushed out was first reported by the New York Daily News.
Accusations of wrongdoing have long churned around Pearson, a former NYPD inspector and friend of Adams going back two decades.
At times the whispers overlapped, such as when a sexual harassment lawsuit against Pearson contended he wanted to use his position at the head of an obscure office overseeing city agencies get a piece of lucrative migrant contracts doled out by City Hall.
“People are doing very well on these contracts. I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?” Pearson allegedly asked employees in 2022, according to the lawsuit.
FBI agents have interviewed cops within the office run by Pearson, sources said.
The feds are eyeing Pearson’s roles in city contracts and whether any kickbacks were involved, sources have told The Post.
Zornberg was advising Pearson on migrant contracting, according to calendar records obtained by The Post.
The calendars document eight meetings on the books between Zornberg and Pearson related to migrant issues, in addition to conflict of interest trainings and other nondescript calls.
On one occasion, Pearson set up an emergency meeting with Zornberg with the aide saying “meeting with you needed ASAP” over migrant crisis contracting last October.
Pearson’s records could also be incomplete, as known meetings were left off his schedule or show recurring sit-downs with officials who had left their posts.
The account of Zornberg refusing to back Pearson struck at least one prominent lawmakers as better late than never.
“In May, I held a hearing to hold the Adams Administration accountable for their severe mishandling of Tim Pearson’s sexual harassment cases,” tweeted Council Lincoln Restler. “Lisa Zornberg tried to intimidate me – requesting I be investigated for my line of questioning. Glad she came to her senses.”
Zornberg couldn’t be reached for comment.
The seasoned attorney served as a law clerk for Sonia Sotomayor when the US Supreme Court justice was a district court judge in the Southern District of New York. She also previously worked in private practice as a partner at New York City-based law firms Lankler Siffert & Wohl and Debevoise & Plimpton.
— Additional reporting by Larry Celona
