Former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich has been charged with corruption in a sealed indictment, sources told the Daily News late Thursday.
Ulrich was revealed to be in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s crosshairs when investigators seized his phone last November, seven months after Mayor Adams tapped him as his Buildings commissioner. He resigned his Buildings post days later.
Bragg’s office declined to comment on or confirm the sealed indictment, which was confirmed to The News by two sources. The New York Times first reported that Ulrich had been charged.
The case is expected to center around Ulrich accepting a discounted apartment from a Brooklyn real estate developer who’s had business dealings before the city, sources told The News.
The developer, Mark Caller, is Ulrich’s landlord and is expected to be charged, too. His lawyer, Ben Brafman, said he hasn’t seen any indictment but had been informed of it.
“I’m under the impression that there is an indictment where (Caller) has been named,” Brafman said. “It is my understanding that there will be an indictment. It will allege a bribery account involving the former commissioner of Buildings Ulrich.”
Brafman called it “patently false” that anything his client did amounted to bribery.
According to The Times, the charges Ulrich faces are also expected to touch on his alleged ties to organized crime and illegal gambling.
The News reported last week that Ulrich first learned he was under investigation from the mayor while at an event with him in May 2022, months before the probe became public. Ulrich said in an interview with Manhattan prosecutors probing an illegal gambling ring in Queens that Adams told him at that event that he should “watch your back and watch your phones,” a comment he interpreted as a warning that he was under investigation, according to sources.
Adams denies the encounter. He has not and is not expected to be accused of criminal wrongdoing.
The gambling investigation centered around a pizzeria with a history of mob ties that’s co-owned by Joseph Livreri, a former aide of Ulrich’s during his time as a member of the City Council.
Ulrich hired Livreri in 2019 to serve as a constituent services staffer in his office. The News on Tuesday reported that Livreri was fired from his City Council job last month.
Ulrich had served for over a decade as a Council member before being tapped by Mayor Adams to serve as his Buildings commissioner. A Republican, Ulrich broke from the party to fundraise for Adams, a Democrat, during his 2021 mayoral run.
Neither Ulrich nor his attorney responded to calls for comment late Thursday.
The case is the second brought by Bragg involving those within Adams’ political orbit. In June, the Manhattan DA’s office announced an indictment in a straw donor scheme involving Adams’ supporters, including a retired NYPD inspector who is friends with the mayor. Adams is not accused of criminal wrongdoing in that case.
