Bo Dietl, a private security contractor and ex-NYPD detective, was interviewed by federal investigators as part of a corruption investigation scrutinizing Tim Pearson, a former top adviser to the mayor, the Daily News has learned.
Sources familiar with the interview confirmed that Dietl spoke with the investigators, but it was unclear when the sit-down occurred or what the status of the investigation is currently, given leadership changes in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which has led the probe.
Dietl, a longtime friend of Adams who has more recently voiced criticism of the mayor amid his legal troubles, declined to comment on or confirm the meeting, citing “legal reasons.” Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Nicholas Biase also declined to comment.
Without going into any names, Dietl said in a podcast released last week that he was told by some of the mayor’s “people” to submit a bid for a migrant shelter security contract “at three times the going rate,” with the understanding he’d then have to pay 20% of the deal total to a private consulting firm.
Reached by phone last week, Dietl declined to name the person he alleges told him that, saying he couldn’t do so, again for “legal reasons.”
“People came to me from the mayor’s office and wanted me to bid three times the going rate and then the 20% for the consulting firm, and I told them to get the f–k out of my office,” Dietl told The News, noting that what was being proposed sounded like a “kickback” scheme. Specifically, Dietl said he was told to charge $119 or so per hour for security guards at the shelter, far more than his usual $38 rate.
“They then wanted 20% of the total to go to a consulting company,” he said, adding he couldn’t name the company, either, for “legal reasons.”
“This is all still something I can’t comment on,” he said.
A 2024 audit of the Adams administration’s migrant crisis response, conducted by City Comptroller Brad Lander’s office, found private security contractors working at migrant shelters have charged the city $117 per hour.
On Monday, Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak noted that Pearson no longer works for the mayor’s administration and that Dietl never got a migrant-related contract with the city. She also said the administration “has always remained dedicated to being fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars” and argued “any insinuation otherwise is baseless and false.”
Pearson, a former cop who served as Adams’ top public security adviser and has known him for decades, was heavily involved in awarding migrant services contracts while in the mayor’s administration. His home was raided last fall as part of a corruption investigation scrutinizing city contracts and kickbacks, The News has previously reported. He has not been charged with any crimes.
Pearson, who resigned in October after the raid, delayed the awarding of a Brooklyn migrant shelter contract in 2023 in an effort to get Dietl a security subcontract at the site, Politico reported last year.
Besides the federal probe, Pearson was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging sexual harassment, professional retaliation and assault while in Adams’ administration. One of those suits claims Pearson once complained he wasn’t making enough money off of migrant contracts he was awarding, allegedly telling subordinates, “Where are my crumbs?”
Timothy Pearson is pictured behind Mayor Eric Adams on Jan. 1, 2022 in Times Square. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Whether the probe involving Pearson is still active is unclear, following a shakeup in leadership at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office provoked by the Trump administration’s intervention in the corruption case against Adams, which was born from a series of investigations overseen by the office’s former head, Damian Williams.
The fate is also uncertain ofmultiple other Manhattan U.S. attorney corruption probes that last year ensnared various top Adams aides, including ex-NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, Schools Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.
President Trump’s Justice Department pressured the office earlier this year to drop Adams’ corruption indictment in a manner that has led many to believe the mayor is compromised and beholden to Trump’s agenda.
In response to the demand to stop prosecuting Adams, top officials in the prestigious Manhattan office resigned in protest, including acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who wrote in a letter the dismissal of the mayor’s case amounted to a “quid pro quo” in which he would assist the president’s deportation agenda in exchange for legal reprieve.
Pearson’s lawyer, Hugh Mo, did not reply to requests for comment on Dietl’s sit-down with the feds. While speaking of the Pearson investigation last week, Mo told The News: “We are just waiting on the government to conclude its investigation or come out with an indictment.”
In February, Dietl laid out similar allegations in a RealDeal podcast appearance.