Staffer for NYC mayor fired amid extortion reports after NYPD commissioner resigns
The controversy surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams' administration continues after the termination of a staffer accused of trying to extort money from a bar owner.
A staffer for New York City Mayor Eric Adams was fired Thursday after a Brooklyn bar owner claimed the staffer tried to extort money from him by leaning on former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban's twin brother. The news comes amid a growing federal probe of Adams' inner circle.
Ray Martin, an operations manager in the city’s community affairs unit, was terminated after a bombshell WNBC report with a Coney Island bar owner saying Martin tried to broker a deal with James Caban, the twin brother of former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who resigned Thursday. The purported deal was meant to fix the bar owner’s problems with the NYPD.
Shamel Kelly, the bar owner who operated the "Juice and Moore Bar" along Mermaid Avenue, said he was told if he hired and paid the police commissioner’s brother, he would get help and better treatment from the NYPD, according to the report.
Kelly had racked up dozens of noise complaints about loud music, and police from the 60th Precinct kept showing up, hurting his relatively new business.
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"I felt it was like I got an ultimatum. It’s like either you gonna get with this, or you gonna get shut down," Kelly told NBC New York.
"[Martin] just said he was an assistant of Eric Adams. He said he knows people, and he dropped the Eddie Caban name because I guess he is the NYPD commissioner, and I was having problems with the NYPD."
Kelly alleges he reached out to James Caban, who told him he could help Kelly with his NYPD problems if he paid him about $2,500 up front. Kelly provided WNBC with phone records and text messages from August 2023 in which he claims Martin encouraged him to contact James Caban.
Kelly’s business was a juice bar by day and licensed to serve alcohol on weekend nights. He declined the alleged offer from Martin and eventually shuttered his business in February.
New York City Hall tells Fox News it was unaware of the allegations made against Martin until the report broke.
"After receiving this inquiry, we immediately began an internal review and found that Mr. Martin violated the terms of his employment," a statement provided to Fox News said.
"Mr. Martin was terminated for cause yesterday. We expect all city employees to act ethically and in the public interest. Because WNBC just reported that both the DOJ and DOI are investigating this matter, we are unable to comment further out of sensitives to their investigations."
James Caban's attorneys told WNBC he "unequivocally denies any wrongdoing and that his work as a consultant and liaison between the department and a private company was perfectly legal, especially given his previous career as a NYPD officer.
"Our client has fully cooperated with law enforcement and, once their investigation is complete, it will be clear that these claims are unfounded and lack merit," the statement said.
Martin served as operations coordinator since April 2023. Immediately before that, he worked in the Office of Media and Entertainment.
James Caban, meanwhile, is under investigation for reportedly selling consulting services to nightclubs under the guise the services would protect the nightclubs from police scrutiny.
That investigation led to his brother Edward Caban resigning as the city’s police commissioner Thursday, days after federal agents raided the homes of the Caban brothers and those of other city officials and seized their electronic devices as part of a growing federal probe. Edward Caban is not under investigation, his attorneys have said.
Rumors of a pending resignation have swirled for days after the Caban raids. Federal agents served warrants on three other high-ranking Adams aides on the same day — First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III and Timothy Pearson, a former NYPD official turned mayoral adviser.
Last year, federal agents seized Adams' devices as he was leaving an event in Manhattan and raided the home of one of his top fundraisers. Adams has denied any wrongdoing but confirmed last month he had received a subpoena from federal prosecutors and that he and his team are cooperating.
Adams appointed Edward Caban as the NYPD's first Hispanic commissioner in July 2023.
He has been replaced by interim Commissioner Tom Donlon, a retired FBI agent who previously led the National Threat Center and oversaw the Terrorism Watch List.
Fox News' Michael Ruiz, Alexis McAdams, Landon Mion and Maria Paronich and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
