NYPD’s top cop abruptly resigns after allegedly demanding underling perform sexual favors — including ‘kiss his penis’ — in exchange for overtime
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Ex-NYPD commissioner’s twin impersonated him to sway nightlife oversight, per complaint
Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 15, 2025
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Former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban’s twin brother impersonated him on multiple occasions while visiting the 34th precinct as part of a scheme to influence nightlife enforcement in Washington Heights, according to a complaint filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Thursday.
The complaint alleges that James Caban, a former police officer, had a close relationship with Inspector Aneudy Castillo, the commanding officer of the 34th Precinct. NYPD Lieutenant Emelio Rodriques, who filed the complaint, wrote that Castillo “facilitated this deception.”
“The CO would always say ‘Caban is coming,’” Rodriques told the New York Post, which first reported the complaint. “We just thought it was the commissioner. I saluted him. Other cops also saluted him.”
The complaint goes on to say that Castillo and other officers made it clear that certain night clubs and lounges with ties to James Caban were “off limits to police oversight.” Officers were instructed to close out 311 requests against those businesses without investigating, the complaint adds.
Rodriques, who is Jamaican, alleged that when he attempted to report misconduct in the 34th precinct, he faced retaliation and discrimination based on his race and national origin. Rodriques said he was charged with ensuring officers comply with the law as part of his duties as integrity control officer, until Castillo removed him from the role.
“Nothing would please me more than to respond to those lies,” Castillo said in an email response to Gothamist’s request for comment. But he said he would need permission from the NYPD’s press shop first.
The NYPD declined to provide an on-record comment Saturday.
Rodriques’ complaint alleges “widespread corruption and abuse of power” in the 34th precinct, and says favored subordinates were offered overtime assignments and other opportunities, while he was excluded. He also alleges inappropriate sexual relationships took place in the workplace.
Rodriques said he observed the selective enforcement and corruption at the precinct between January 2023 and September 2024.
This is not the first time James Caban has faced accusations of corruption. A bar owner in Coney Island accused him of demanding payment in exchange for better treatment from the NYPD, NBC reported last year.
Edward Caban resigned in September, shortly after federal investigators seized his phone as part of an investigation by the IRS and the US attorney’s office in Manhattan. The search and Caban’s resignation coincided with several other, apparently separate, investigations into Mayor Eric Adams and members of his administration.
The NYPD has ten days to respond to the allegations, according to an announcement from the law firm representing Rodriques. The firm added that the case could also be referred to state and local agencies for investigation.
Both of them on enemy territory they should be the best of friends. Any sex should not be forced by his position.
Exclusive: NYPD lieutenant breaks silence after accusing ex-chief of department of sex harassment
ByDarla Miles
Monday, March 10, 2025 11:30PM
Exclusive: NYPD lieutenant breaks silence after accusing ex-chief of department of sex harassment
Eyewitness News is exclusively hearing from the woman at the center of a scandal that rocked the NYPD.
Darla Miles sat down exclusively with Quathisha Epps for the emotional interview.
Eyewitness News is exclusively hearing from the woman at the center of a scandal that rocked the NYPD.
The woman, an NYPD lieutenant, accused the highest-ranking uniformed member of the force of sexual harassment.
In an emotional interview, Quathisha Epps talks about Jeffrey Maddrey, the former NYPD chief of department, and how she says he forced himself on her in exchange for overtime hours.
Epps sat down with Eyewitness News reporter Darla Miles for an exclusive interview.
"This guy is a monster," Epps said.
Epps, for the first time, is speaking openly about the allegations of sexual harassment, that prompted Maddrey to cut short his 33-year career in the department, abruptly resigning in December.
"Who's going to believe me? Who can I talk to, who can I tell?" Epps said.
The 19-year NYPD veteran sat down with Eyewitness News along with her attorney to discuss the EEOC complaint she filed last year, which reads, "Maddrey engaged in quid pro quo sexual harassment" and would "coerce her into performing unwanted sexual favors in exchange for overtime opportunities."
It was overtime she'd expressed previously she needed after her two-income household dropped down to one during the COVID-19 shutdown.
She said it all started in June 2023 when Maddrey called her into of his 13th-floor office at One Police Plaza, the NYPD's headquarters.
"He says close the door. And it was in this moment when things changed for the worse. He's dressed in a T-shirt, work pants and no shoes on. And the way he was sitting you could not readily see that his pants were open. He kept pointed to me that he wanted some of that. He was pointed at my buttocks. He revealed himself," Epps said.
Epps describes in explicit, disturbing detail the first time she says Maddrey forced himself on her.
"He keeps saying he's sick and he's sorry, rubbing his chest saying 'I'm a (expletive), I'm a (expletive) I'm still a (expletive). I'm like, you're the chief of department and he's like, I'm a (expletive) I'm still a (expletive) and I want that.' He stands up, his penis exposed and holds me by my arm and says 'I just need a little bit, I just need a little bit and starts pushing me towards the door." And I really couldn't get much more out of me other than, 'you're the chief of department," Epps said.
Epps, a mother of three, struggled to get through the details.
"He starts using his weight to push me in the room, in the dorm area. And then I feel an excruciating pain. And I keep saying, 'Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.' And he just kept on, 'Baby I'm sorry, baby I'm sorry. I just need it, I just need it.' He says he dreams about it. He just dreams about it. I just kept saying 'Stop, stop, stop.' And then my body just went, like flat. I just tried to lay still and maybe it will end sooner," Epps said.
She said Maddrey, more than twice her size, had her pinned in a small space and she couldn't move.
"I honestly don't know what was happening. I wasn't even connecting. I just couldn't understand why you would do this to me. You're my brother. I can come to you about anything and I have come to you. You know everything I've been through. I've confided in you so much. You said you were going to protect me," Epps said.
For the next 18 months, Epps says Maddrey would often corner her when the two were alone, and force himself on her.
"Everything was in 1PP. (One Police Plaza.) I have, I have never ever, ever had any type of exchange physically with him. He's never violated me outside of 1PP," Epps said.
Because of Maddrey's rank and power within the department, Epps says she had nowhere to turn.
"I never said a cross word about him. I just tried to lay low and survive," Epps said.
"Did the word ever come to your head?" Miles asked.
"Sodomy came to my head?" Epps said.
"Was it always sodomy?" Miles asked.
"No. It was always a violation," Epps said.
In December, an attorney for Maddrey denied the allegation, sharing his side of the story.
"Lt. Epps had a consensual adult relationship, albeit for a short time, with Jeff," the attorney said.
Maddrey's attorney reiterated this position when we reached out to him about our interview with Epps, saying: "Lt. Epps was suspended from the NYPD in mid December for allegedly stealing time because it's believed she falsified time sheets and was paid for overtime that she never performed."
The attorney also said: "It was only after she was accused of stealing that she decided to make up a story to save her own skin, We look forward to total vindication."
Said Epps: "He just explained to me that he was sorry. And if I didn't say anything, we always keep this here. He would help me protect me. He knows that I'm dealing with financial woes, and he got me all I have to do is don't tell nobody."
Earlier on Monday, Epps filed a complaint with the NYPD internal affairs over nude videos of her that are now circulating on messaging apps.
Epps and her attorney claim she was coerced into making the videos in Maddrey's actions to keep her under his power and control.
Maddrey's lawyer has said all along they are aware that the videos exist and that the relationship was consensual.
@liondiaspora3792
13 hours agoThis woman really has no shame. I'm sorry to all the true victims out there but I do not believe this woman one bit.
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4 replies
@brooklynknightss
13 hours agoShe wasn't crying or complaining when she was making ot!! Its all bullshit tears
154
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8 replies
@constancenugent-miller5015
12 hours agoI don’t believe her
60
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1 reply
@christiannieves6685
9 hours agoThis is pure con woman, no one told her to get her OT like that. I certainly don’t believe this happened and it’s a shame to all women who are actually affected by sexual assault to be made a mockery by this person
43
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@brooklynknightss
13 hours agoShe was doing it for years until the post uncovered the outrageous OT
47
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1 reply
@Melo-Drama
10 hours agoAll she had to say was "NO! I HAVE TO GO!" and leave the room. She didn't. NYPD overtime is a hell of a drug!
24
Reply
@Triple10101
12 hours agoShe was down with the program and wasn't complaining about that overtime money!!!!
83
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FULL EP.
Wait, he fuck the hoe who was dancing in the video too? Bet he slid up in it raw and let a few hot shots loose up in there.
Now I would lose al respect for him if he pressed the new bitch in charge. She looks semi-retarded, slightly downed.
Now I would lose al respect for him if he pressed the new bitch in charge. She looks semi-retarded, slightly downed.
Smh she was down with it. She was bussing out open in those videos she sent him. They're all over whatsap
Right-hand man to ex-NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey ousted after allegedly approving fake overtime slip: sources
By
Tina Moore and
David Propper
Published April 17, 2025, 11:48 p.m. ET
The right-hand man to disgraced former NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey was fired from the job after he was caught up in the same sex-for-overtime scandal that sank his boss, police and sources told The Post Thursday.
Deputy Chief Paul Saraceno was pushed out this month after he allegedly signed off on scores of old overtime slips for then-Lt. Quathisha Epps, who was allegedly involved in a sex-for-bonus bucks quid-pro-quo with Maddrey, a law enforcement source said.
Epps, who was the department’s top OT earner to the tune of $403,515 last year, exited the NYPD last year after she accused Maddrey of coercing her into sex — a bombshell claim first reported on by The Post.
Maddrey stepped down soon after he was contacted about Epps’ claims, which included forcing her to have sex with him at NYPD headquarters.
Saraceno allegedly grabbed up a “bunch of overtime slips from (Epps) in November that were from earlier in 2024 and backdating more than 170 of them,” the source said.
The deputy chief allegedly signed off on the slips even though he was aware there was an active investigation into the astronomical extra pay for Epps, according to the source.
Saraceno put his retirement papers in at the pension board Thursday, according to an internal police document obtained by The Post.
He left under a state clause enacted in 2011 that allows NYPD members to retire if they are dismissed with 20 years or more on the job.
Saraceno, who was initially demoted from his position after the allegations first came to light, will hang onto his pension but won’t receive a letter that indicates he left on good terms or keep his gun, another police source told The Post.
He did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The NYPD confirmed Thursday he was terminated this month as NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch works to root out corruption within the scandal-scarred agency.
Part of that effort involved reorganizing the Internal Affairs Bureau and additional offices after the alleged sex-for-OT deal came to light.
Maddrey called the sex with Epps “consensual” and denied any abuse. Police sources previously said Epps retired in January.
Federal prosecutors and the NYPD both have opened investigations into the accusations.
What do you think? Post a comment.
Chris Monahan, president of the NYPD’s Captains Endowment Association, told The Post that Saraceno reported directly to Maddrey and “he was caught between a rock and a hard place.”
Saraceno was disciplined in 2022 under then-top cop Keechant Sewell after an internal affairs probe found he misused department time and submitted a false timesheet, a police source said.
T P
10 hours ago
I'm sorry but these cops that break the rules and in some cases the law, are left to skate away with a nice cushy pemsion and there are no consequences. I bet if the punishment was the loss of pension, there would be fewer incidents that force retirement like this one.
6 hours ago
You don’t have to apologize for calling a spade a spade. You’re absolutely correct.
1 hour ago
NYC corruption at its best.
7 hours ago
Time to change that clause?
He left under a state clause enacted in 2011 that allows NYPD members to retire if they are dismissed with 20 years or more on the job.
3 hours ago
How about holding politicians to the same standards? Never happen just like term limits.
10 hours ago
I'm sorry but these cops that break the rules and in some cases the law, are left to skate away with a nice cushy pemsion and there are no consequences. I bet if the punishment was the loss of pension, there would be fewer incidents that force retirement like this one.
6 hours ago
You don’t have to apologize for calling a spade a spade. You’re absolutely correct.
1 hour ago
NYC corruption at its best.
7 hours ago
Time to change that clause?
He left under a state clause enacted in 2011 that allows NYPD members to retire if they are dismissed with 20 years or more on the job.
3 hours ago
How about holding politicians to the same standards? Never happen just like term limits.
NYPD wants to claw back $200K in OT from cop who claims disgraced Chief Jeffrey Maddrey ‘coerced’ her into sex
ByTina Moore
Published May 3, 2025, 8:15 a.m. ET
147 Comments
The NYPD is trying to claw back more than $200,000 in overtime paid to the female lieutenant who alleged the OT cash was used by disgraced ex-Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey to coerce her to perform sexual acts, The Post has learned.
Lt. Quathisha Epps, a 19-year-vet who retired in December after The Post uncovered the scandal, was the department’s highest paid cop last year.
“She was paid for work she did not do,” a police source said. “She has received notice that she owes this money.”
4Former NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, who was the NYPD’s No. 1 uniformed cop, abruptly resigned after The Post reported that he allegedly used overtime to “coerce” an underling to perform sexual favors.Brigitte Stelzer
Epps called the NYPD demand that she pay back $231,890.75 retaliation for her blowing the whistle on the department’s No. 2 cop.
“I will not be silenced,” she said. “This isn’t just my fight — it’s the fight of every woman who dared to speak up and was punished for it. If the department — or anyone – believes they can erase what happened by attacking me, they’ve gravely underestimated the power of truth.”
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The demand was a result of an NYPD investigation into the overtime and involved Epps’ direct supervisor, former Deputy Chief Paul Saraceno, who was fired last month, sources said. Saraceno was Maddrey’s second in command and allegedly signed off on Epps’ overtime retroactively, the sources said.Epps’ lawyer, Eric Sanders, said the letter Epps received from the NYPD included no evidence that she didn’t work the hours she claimed to work.
4NYPD top earner, ex-Lieutenant Quathisha Epps, filed a federal EEOC complaint against Maddrey.NYPD
“The overtime issue is a red herring—manufactured to distract from the real legal and moral crisis inside the NYPD,” Sanders said. “Under New York labor law, the burden is on the employer to maintain accurate records, not the employee.”
The Post revealed in November that Epps pulled in $403,515 in fiscal year 2024, including $204,453.48 in overtime pay on top of her base salary of $164,477, according to city payroll records.
4Epps told The Post she had sex with Maddrey in his office multiple times and asked him to stop during their first encounter.LP Media
On Dec. 20, Epps, who was an administrator in Maddrey’s office at One Police Plaza, told The Post that the chief paid her the dough to “coerce” her to have sex with him in his office at NYPD headquarters.
Sanders, a former cop, filed a federal Equal Employment Opportunity complaint against Maddrey on Epps’ behalf the next day.
Maddrey resigned the day The Post story went online Dec. 21. A week later, he held a press conference in Manhattan where his lawyer told reporters that the relationship with Epps was consensual. He also accused Epps of going after his client because of the investigtion into her overtime. Maddrey didn’t take questions.
While the NYPD goes after Epps, Maddrey is expected to pull down an annual pension worth around $259,000. When Epps reaches her 20th anniversary this summer, she will receive a pension of less than half the pay of a lieutenant — under $50,000, police sources said. She will also miss out on the variable supplement of about $12,000 per year.
4Deputy Chief Paul Saraceno was fired by the NYPD over allegations that he approved bogus overtime slips.50-a.org
In the wake of the scandal, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch made department-wide changes, including replacing the head of the storied Internal Affairs Bureau and transferring officials at Police HQ to other precincts and divisions.
Maddrey’s home was raided on Jan. 2 by agents with the U.S. Department of Justice, which opened an investigation after news of the imbroglio broke. The Manhattan District Attorneys Office also said it was launching a probe but later said it dropped the case. The DOJ has refused to comment on the status of its review.
147
What do you think? Post a comment.
One retired NYPD officer who worked with sex assault victims said the NYPD demand for repayment from an alleged victim is misguided — especially since her accused harrasser, Maddrey, was allowed to retire with a full pension.
“If you listen to her, she says she asked him to stop when he had sex with her in his office,” the ex-officer said. “She’s asserting criminal misconduct.”
The NYPD did not return a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona.
True….but only one gang swore an oath to uphold the rule of law and protect/enforce the constitution.
This alone makes them and predatory Priests….the shittiest people on the planet.
Carry on……
NYPD
by Gwynne Hogan, Yoav Gonen and Harry Siegel June 12, 2025, 6:23 p.m.
NYPD Chief of Department John Chell attends a Bellevue press conference about an officer who was shot in the line of duty, Feb. 18, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
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John Chell, the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed official, used someone else’s identity in a bid to avoid paying income taxes on money he made while moonlighting as a basketball referee for six years, newly-released police disciplinary records reveal.
The attempted tax dodge was reported to the department by an investigator for the Internal Revenue Service. Chell pleaded guilty to departmental charges of misconduct after a probe found he “willfully attemp[ed] to evade or defeat a federal tax” and was docked 10 vacation days in 2013, according to the records.
The IRS had investigated whether the identity Chell used to file taxes for the referee gig between 1997 and 2003 was stolen, but the NYPD records said he moonlit under the names of family members.
The case was among 11 internal investigations that Chell, the NYPD’s Chief of Department, faced over his 31 years with the force, according to the records.
The documents, which were reviewed by THE CITY, were obtained through a public disclosure law request by attorneys representing Giovonnie Mayo, a Brooklyn man who was run over by an unmarked police car in a pursuit in Brownsville last May.
Mayo spent 44 days on a ventilator, during which time the NYPD had him shackled to his hospital bed, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court. He now has has permanent brain damage.
Also revealed in the records is a second guilty plea by Chell in 2005 following an internal investigation for “being absent from [his] assignment without permission or police necessity.”
June 12, 2025, 12:56 PM
This came after a fellow officer accused him of having “someone sign him in and go out for the night drinking.” The complaint said he had “someone else sign him out” and that he earned overtime “without being present.”
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The department did not substantiate overtime abuse in that case but established a “misuse of time,” according to Chell’s Comprehensive Officer History, one of the documents obtained by Mayo’s lawyers. He did not appear to have faced any discipline for the substantiated charge.
In another guilty plea on internal charges, Chell was docked seven vacation days in 2008 for using an NYPD vehicle to drive around an unidentified person without authorization, though the details of that allegation aren’t contained in the records.
Chell and a spokesperson for the NYPD didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
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Cassandra Rohme, an attorney representing Mayo, said Chell’s lengthy disciplinary record raises troubling questions about officer discipline.
“Chell’s record indicates a failure to discipline NYPD officers to frankly a level that is extremely concerning,” she said. “It makes me concerned about what else is out there if this is the person in charge.”
Under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, Chell has steadily climbed to the top alongside his friend Chief Jeffrey Maddrey.
Under former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, Chell, then the chief of patrol, became a highly visible presence, putting out his own videos on official accounts and emerging as an unabashed online critic of politicians and journalists he sometimes called cop-haters.
He was also a regular commentator on right-wing television channels Newsmax and Fox.
As THE CITY previously reported, Chell shot a man in the back in 2008 in what the department found was an accidental discharge. But a Brooklyn civil jury later ruled that the shooting had been intentional, and awarded the victim’s family what became a $1.5 million dollar payout.
Chell is the architect of a highly aggressive, and sometimes fatal, vehicle chase policy under Mayor Eric Adams and was promoted to chief of department by new Commissioner Jessica Tisch on New Year’s Eve. Tisch announced new restrictions on the chase policy in January.
His promotion came after Maddrey, another close Adams ally, abruptly resigned in December after a subordinate accused him of pressuring her into a sex-for-overtime arrangement.
Tisch would have had access to Chell’s lengthy disciplinary file ahead of her decision to promote him to the top uniformed spot in the NYPD. She has otherwise made significant changes to the leadership of the department.
Chell was also the subject of a city Department of Investigation report in January blasting his “unprofessional” social media posts on official NYPD accounts attacking politicians, journalists (including an editor at THE CITY) and others last year.
A log of internal complaints made about Chell obtained by Mayo’s attorneys appears to show six pending complaints since the start of 2024, including one for selling NYPD-branded paraphernalia, two allegations of on-duty retaliation, and one off-duty social media violation.
This weekend, Chell posted a picture to his personal social media account of himself and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry golfing with President Donald Trump at one of his golf courses. The New York Post later reported that the president, who’d already sent the military into Los Angeles, said he was concerned about protests in New York and that “Chell reassured the president that any demonstrations in the city would not get out of hand.”
As for Mayo, he’s able to walk again but is still virtually unable to communicate verbally, according to his lawyer Rohme.
“It’s a miracle that he’s alive at this point,” Rohme said.
Chief of Department John Chell Used False Identity in Bid to Avoid Income Tax, NYPD Records Show
Chell pleaded guilty to departmental charges in that case and one other, according to records in a lawsuit accusing him of misrepresenting an incident where officers ran over a man.by Gwynne Hogan, Yoav Gonen and Harry Siegel June 12, 2025, 6:23 p.m.
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John Chell, the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed official, used someone else’s identity in a bid to avoid paying income taxes on money he made while moonlighting as a basketball referee for six years, newly-released police disciplinary records reveal.
The attempted tax dodge was reported to the department by an investigator for the Internal Revenue Service. Chell pleaded guilty to departmental charges of misconduct after a probe found he “willfully attemp[ed] to evade or defeat a federal tax” and was docked 10 vacation days in 2013, according to the records.
The IRS had investigated whether the identity Chell used to file taxes for the referee gig between 1997 and 2003 was stolen, but the NYPD records said he moonlit under the names of family members.
The case was among 11 internal investigations that Chell, the NYPD’s Chief of Department, faced over his 31 years with the force, according to the records.
The documents, which were reviewed by THE CITY, were obtained through a public disclosure law request by attorneys representing Giovonnie Mayo, a Brooklyn man who was run over by an unmarked police car in a pursuit in Brownsville last May.
Mayo spent 44 days on a ventilator, during which time the NYPD had him shackled to his hospital bed, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court. He now has has permanent brain damage.
Also revealed in the records is a second guilty plea by Chell in 2005 following an internal investigation for “being absent from [his] assignment without permission or police necessity.”
June 12, 2025, 12:56 PM
This came after a fellow officer accused him of having “someone sign him in and go out for the night drinking.” The complaint said he had “someone else sign him out” and that he earned overtime “without being present.”
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The department did not substantiate overtime abuse in that case but established a “misuse of time,” according to Chell’s Comprehensive Officer History, one of the documents obtained by Mayo’s lawyers. He did not appear to have faced any discipline for the substantiated charge.
In another guilty plea on internal charges, Chell was docked seven vacation days in 2008 for using an NYPD vehicle to drive around an unidentified person without authorization, though the details of that allegation aren’t contained in the records.
Chell and a spokesperson for the NYPD didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
‘Extremely Concerning’
Mayo’s federal lawsuit, which references Chell’s disciplinary records, charges him with defamation for holding a press conference after the crash where he claimed that Mayo “displayed a firearm and pointed it at a female.” But, according to the suit, Mayo was unarmed, no weapon was recovered, and the woman in question said the two were just talking.Sign up for THE CITY SCOOP!
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Cassandra Rohme, an attorney representing Mayo, said Chell’s lengthy disciplinary record raises troubling questions about officer discipline.
“Chell’s record indicates a failure to discipline NYPD officers to frankly a level that is extremely concerning,” she said. “It makes me concerned about what else is out there if this is the person in charge.”
Under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, Chell has steadily climbed to the top alongside his friend Chief Jeffrey Maddrey.
Under former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, Chell, then the chief of patrol, became a highly visible presence, putting out his own videos on official accounts and emerging as an unabashed online critic of politicians and journalists he sometimes called cop-haters.
He was also a regular commentator on right-wing television channels Newsmax and Fox.
As THE CITY previously reported, Chell shot a man in the back in 2008 in what the department found was an accidental discharge. But a Brooklyn civil jury later ruled that the shooting had been intentional, and awarded the victim’s family what became a $1.5 million dollar payout.
Chell is the architect of a highly aggressive, and sometimes fatal, vehicle chase policy under Mayor Eric Adams and was promoted to chief of department by new Commissioner Jessica Tisch on New Year’s Eve. Tisch announced new restrictions on the chase policy in January.
His promotion came after Maddrey, another close Adams ally, abruptly resigned in December after a subordinate accused him of pressuring her into a sex-for-overtime arrangement.
Tisch would have had access to Chell’s lengthy disciplinary file ahead of her decision to promote him to the top uniformed spot in the NYPD. She has otherwise made significant changes to the leadership of the department.
Chell was also the subject of a city Department of Investigation report in January blasting his “unprofessional” social media posts on official NYPD accounts attacking politicians, journalists (including an editor at THE CITY) and others last year.
A log of internal complaints made about Chell obtained by Mayo’s attorneys appears to show six pending complaints since the start of 2024, including one for selling NYPD-branded paraphernalia, two allegations of on-duty retaliation, and one off-duty social media violation.
This weekend, Chell posted a picture to his personal social media account of himself and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry golfing with President Donald Trump at one of his golf courses. The New York Post later reported that the president, who’d already sent the military into Los Angeles, said he was concerned about protests in New York and that “Chell reassured the president that any demonstrations in the city would not get out of hand.”
As for Mayo, he’s able to walk again but is still virtually unable to communicate verbally, according to his lawyer Rohme.
“It’s a miracle that he’s alive at this point,” Rohme said.
Mayor Adams, police cronies forced out investigators who were onto NYPD scandal: bombshell suit
ByPeter Senzamici and
Craig McCarthy
Published July 8, 2025, 11:13 a.m. ET
255 Comments
Death toll rising after massive flooding hits Texas Hill Country | July 7, 2025
The NYPD under Mayor Eric Adams solicited bribes for promotions, falsified time cards, put unqualified pals in specialized units and routinely ignored rules on body cameras, a bombshell series of new lawsuits claims.
Four bombshell lawsuits filed late Monday accuse Adams and his top NYPD allies of running a department where corruption and retaliation were common, and substantiate rumors of multiple federal and local investigations into illegal behavior.
The suits come as Adams faces an uphill re-election campaign as an independent.
5Eric Adams and his NYPD allies have been accused of corruption and retaliation within the department, according to new lawsuits.Getty Images
5One lawsuit claims claims former Commissioner Edward Caban sold promotions for up to $15,000.Matthew McDermott
Former NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig’s lawsuit claims former Commissioner Edward Caban sold promotions for up to $15,000, and is currently under a federal investigation for selling shields.
According to the suit, Caban “tired” of Essig challenging him and former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey’s “unusual and non-customary promotion and transfer practices,” including “unvetted promotions” into the mega-sensitive Special Victims Unit, and told him to take a $50,000 pay cut — or resign.
In another suit, the second in command of Internal Affairs, Joseph Veneziano — a 30-year NYPD veteran — allegedly faced a similar ultimatum after looking into false overtime slips signed by a friend of Maddrey who worked in his office.
5Ex-NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig’s lawsuit claims former Commissioner Edward Caban sold promotions for up to $15,000.William Farrington
5Former Commissioner Edward Caban (left) is named in the bombshell suit.James Keivom
Veneziano’s suit notes that he cooperated with an investigation from the Brooklyn DA’s Office — as he is required to do as part of his job — but faced intense backlash from Maddrey.
At first, Veneziano claims, former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell “protected” him from “Maddrey’s retaliation.”
5A suit filed by officer Joseph Veneziano accuses Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey (above) of retaliation.Paul Martinka
255
What do you think? Post a comment.
But just a month after Sewell resigned and was replaced by Adams pal Caban, Veneziano was given a demotion to the “inferior” Transit Bureau and resigned a month later.
The NYPD and city Law Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Former NYPD commissioner Tom Donlon to sue Adams, ex-spokesman for $10M over claims he was too old and ‘mentally not fit’
Former NYPD commissioner and FBI agent Tom Donlon plans to sue Mayor Eric Adams and his ex-top spokesperson for claiming he was an old man with cognitive issues. Donlon filed the notice of claim Mo…
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Former NYPD commissioner Tom Donlon to sue Adams, ex-spokesman for $10M over claims he was too old and ‘mentally not fit’
ByCraig McCarthy
Published July 21, 2025, 9:37 a.m. ET
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Former NYPD commissioner and FBI agent Tom Donlon plans to sue Mayor Eric Adams and his ex-top spokesperson for claiming he was an old man with cognitive issues.
Donlon filed the notice of claim Monday morning, seeking $10 million in damages for defamation, according to his attorney John Scola.
3Former NYPD commissioner Tom Donlon plans to sue Mayor Eric Adams over claims he was an old man with cognitive issues.Paul Martinka
“This wasn’t spin. It was a deliberate and defamatory attack — weaponizing mental health to silence a whistleblower and deflect from the criminal misconduct Donlon exposed,” Scola said.
The latest filing comes just days after a blockbuster lawsuit from the short-lived interim commish, accusing Adams and his cop cronies of running a massive criminal operation in the NYPD.
In the days after, the mayor and his former deputy commissioner of public information railed against Donlon, calling him a disgruntled employee and attacking his mental acuity.
3Adams said Thursday than Donlon refused to take a cognitive test and claimed his ex-commish was “mentally not fit.”James Keivom
3Tariq Sheppard, former NYPD deputy commissioner of public information, was also named in the claim.William Farrington
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What do you think? Post a comment.
Adams told a room of New York business people Thursday that Donlon refused to take a cognitive test and claimed his former commissioner was “mentally not fit.”
Tariq Sheppard also made similar attacks on Donlon while appearing on Pix11.
Calls to City Hall and Sheppard were not immediately returned.
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