Key facts
- Top aides to NYC Mayor Eric Adams allegedly secured inflated NYPD pensions.
- A report by the Department of Investigation (DOI) found miscalculations by the Police Pension Fund.
- Agreements to exclude deputy mayor and probation commissioner salaries from pension calculations were disregarded.
- One official, Holmes, is reportedly under criminal investigation.
- Molina received an annual pension of $71,691, $21,952 more than he should have.
- Two former police spokespeople, Whyte and James, also received inflated benefits.
Top aides to New York City Mayor Eric Adams allegedly secured inflated NYPD pensions due to miscalculations by the Police Pension Fund, according to a report by the Department of Investigation (DOI).
One official, Daughtry, stated he has "no recollection of knowingly completing or signing any agreement stating that my deputy mayor salary would be excluded from my pension calculation" and would not have accepted the position had this condition been clearly disclosed. He has requested the document and administrative record for review by counsel.
Holmes, who is reportedly under criminal investigation for alleged abuse of powers as probation commissioner, is also said to be pulling an excessive pension. DOI investigators found she signed an agreement to exclude her probation commissioner salary from her NYPD retirement calculations, but the Police Pension Fund disregarded this, resulting in her pension being calculated off her $282,301 probation salary instead of her $261,000 police salary.
Molina's case was described as "even more problematic" in the DOI report. He oversaw two city agencies and worked in Adams' City Hall without an 821 waiver to keep his NYPD title. Despite this, the Police Pension Fund awarded him an annual pension of $71,691, believing he had a waiver, when he was only supposed to receive $49,739.
The watchdog also found that two other NYPD employees, former police spokespeople Eugene Whyte and Edelle James, similarly received inflated retirement benefits because the Police Pension Fund incorrectly assessed that they had 821 waivers.