Eric Ulrich, a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, is scheduled to surrender on Wednesday in response to charges filed under seal in the course of a year-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office that was apparently connected to a number of Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign contributors.
Politico was informed by sources that Adams and the mayor’s campaign are not involved in the allegations against Ulrich. Sam Braverman, Ulrich’s defence lawyer, told the New York Daily News that he anticipates Ulrich to turn himself in at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse sometime on Wednesday morning and show up in court at 2:15 p.m.
“I truly and honestly have no inside information as to what the charges are. Anybody who says they know are lying unless they are the DA or a grand juror. If I know what the charges are, I would comment,” Braverman told Politico on Tuesday, adding that “it would be rank speculation” to comment before Ulrich turns himself in.
The New York Times was the first to reveal that Ulrich was charged through a sealed indictment over the summer.
According to Politico, the indictment accuses at least four additional people in relation to the same probe, including the brothers Joseph and Anthony Livreri, who run two pizza restaurants in Queens and co-hosted a fundraiser in August 2021 for Adams’ mayoral campaign.
news source The City was the first to reveal that Mark Caller, a real estate entrepreneur and another supporter of Adams’ mayoral campaign, was also named in the indictment. Caller organised a different, highly successful fundraiser for the mayor’s campaign in August 2021.
In another case, Bragg’s office revealed in July that six of Adams’ previous campaign contributors, including retired NYPD deputy inspector Dwayne Montgomery, had been implicated in a plot to use straw donors to direct tens of thousands of dollars in illegal donations to the mayor’s campaign.
According to the Daily News, Bragg will participate in a press conference with Jocelyn Strauber, commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, on Ulrich’s case on Wednesday afternoon.
Following the seizure of his phone by Bragg’s office in November of last year, Ulrich resigned as the buildings commissioner. He was a Republican who previously served on the New York City Council before joining the Democratic Party to support Adams’ mayoral campaign.
