BROOKLYN — U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto tentatively set an August 24 trial date for Frank Carone, who faces 13 counts of bribery, money laundering, and wire fraud related to a $6.8 million contract for a migrant shelter. Frank Carone, 56, previously served as chief of staff to former New York Mayor Eric Adams. He was indicted alongside Anthony Carone, 54, Yan Po Zhu, and Crystal Chen. All four individuals entered pleas of not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors allege Frank Carone accepted $120,000 in bribes from hotel owner Yan Po Zhu. This money was allegedly exchanged for steering a $6.8 million contract to operate Zhu's Microtel hotel in Long Island City as an emergency migrant shelter in 2022. City officials had reportedly rejected the Microtel for the contract multiple times due to its small size and location prior to Carone's alleged involvement. The government claims Frank Carone used the bribe money for personal benefit, including credit card payments. Prosecutors also allege that Yan Po Zhu and Anthony Carone entered into a sham retainer agreement to conceal the bribes. Anthony Carone is further accused of laundering payments through his law firm and funneling $500,000 to Frank Carone via his law firm bank account in 2022. Crystal Chen is identified as Yan Po Zhu's business manager.

The government plans to provide defendants with discovery totaling millions of pages and expects the digital evidence to reach four terabytes. Preparations include extracting data from devices seized by law enforcement. The trial is anticipated to last eight weeks. The parties are scheduled to return to court on July 27 to discuss their trial preparations. Judge Matsumoto commented on the discovery process and the trial schedule, stating, "It doesn't seem too logical to me to think about waiving speedy trial when you don't have all the documents." She also expressed doubt about the August trial date, saying, "I don't think that's a real date." Regarding the co-defendants, Judge Matsumoto noted, "Severing is not favored when defendants are indicted together." Andrew Goldstein, an attorney for Frank Carone, stated, "We're going to push to keep the August trial date." He added, "If it moves, we are going to push to keep it as soon as possible." Goldstein also questioned the prosecution's case, asking, "What is the official act our client is alleged to have done?" Charging documents include texts from September and October 2022 between Yan Po Zhu and Frank Carone concerning the hotel contract. The documents also show texts from the same period between Frank Carone and unnamed city officials indicating the Microtel had not been approved for a migrant housing contract.