NEW YORK (VINnews) — Federal prosecutors allege that Frank Carone, a former top adviser to ex-New York City Mayor Eric Adams, participated in a scheme that exploited the city’s migrant crisis for personal profit, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that Carone, his brother, a hotel owner and a business associate “devised and executed a scheme to exploit the City’s migrant crisis for profit” between June 2022 and December 2023.

Carone’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, dismissed the charges, calling the indictment “weak” and “based on purely circumstantial evidence that’s not worth the paper upon which it is printed.”

“Today’s indictment is a sad day for our criminal justice system,” Aidala said in a statement. “It epitomizes the government first finding a target and then spending three years and enormous taxpayer resources to find a crime.”

Carone, his brother and two others were arrested Wednesday morning. Prosecutors allege the scheme involved city contracts tied to housing migrants during New York City’s migrant influx.

A spokesman for Adams said Carone had spent decades serving New Yorkers through public service, the legal profession and charitable work.

The case is one of several federal investigations involving figures connected to Adams’ administration.