Bill Hwang has an unlikely ally as he tries to stay out of prison.
Frank Carone — a longtime adviser to Mayor Eric Adams — has fashioned himself as a power broker straddling the worlds of city government and the businesses it regulates. Now, he has pulled himself into the orbit of Hwang — who was an unassuming financier before a $36 billion blowup led to the prospect of life behind bars.
Carone, a key cog in the city’s Democratic machine, said he has been advising Hwang, and even encouraged him last year to overhaul his legal team to fight charges of market manipulation, fraud and racketeering.
Hwang then brought in a new defense team led by Barry Berke, a prominent attorney who most famously led the effort for House and Senate Democrats to impeach former president Donald Trump.
A representative for Hwang declined to comment.
“I have a large Rolodex and making relationships is a major part of my life,” Carone said on Wednesday about how he connected with Hwang. “There’s always someone who knows someone.”
The former chief of staff to Adams said he hosted Hwang at the Core Club — one of New York City’s exclusive private members’ clubs. “We met for breakfast and I was struck by Bill’s candor,” he said. “I was taken by the man.”
Carone was speaking from Italy, where he accompanied Adams on the mayor’s recent visit to Rome and the Vatican.
The Adams confidant has fashioned himself as a gatekeeper to the mayor and reset the ways of City Hall. Carone helped Adams cultivate an accessible, at times cozy, relationship with the New York business community.
He had been a longtime lawyer for the Brooklyn County Democratic party, and has even acted as Adams’ personal attorney. The mayor relied heavily on Carone for administration picks and setting policy priorities.
He left the Adams administration after about a year to start his own consulting firm that touts his “uncanny ability to facilitate these public-private partnerships.”
The case against Hwang — rigging markets with the use of complicated swaps — is a world away from the type of cases that cemented Carone’s legal credentials in the city: matrimonial disputes, insurance claims for cab companies and tiffs between real estate developers.
“Part of what I do as a strategist is to navigate complex legal issues,” Carone says of his role with Hwang. “Just know I’m doing it as a strategist, not a lawyer.”
Sridhar Natarajan and Ava Benny-Morrison, Bloomberg , 2024-05-16 21:50:11
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