Within New York City’s Chinese business community, many people recognize the names “San Dong Zhu” or “Andy Zhu.” Far fewer, however, know the man now indicted as part of a sprawling federal bribery scheme that included the upper ranks of City Hall by his legal name: Yan Po Zhu.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutors indicted Zhu, a Chinese businessman and New York hotel owner, alongside former Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone and two other defendants. The four are accused of siphoning millions tied to a lucrative migrant shelter contract awarded during the city’s migrant crisis in 2022.
According to prosecutors, Carone, 56, accepted cash payments in exchange for helping steer a $6.8 million city contract to one of Zhu’s hotels, even after the city agency in charge had determined that it was unfit to be used as a migrant shelter. Carone and his brother Anthony, who is also named in the indictment, allegedly received payments of more than $100,000 to steer the contract toward Zhu.
The 13-count indictment charges the defendants — Carone, his brother Anthony Carone, Zhu, and Crystal Chen, an employee of Zhu’s — with bribery, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and tax offenses. They were arrested on Wednesday and later appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry in Brooklyn federal court. All four pleaded not guilty, and were released on bond.
A Profitable Business During the Migrant Crisis
Federal prosecutors allege that beginning in 2022, the defendants “devised and executed a scheme to exploit the City’s migrant crisis for their personal profit.”
The indictment alleges that between June 2022 and December 2023, Carone agreed to accept approximately $120,000 in bribe payments from Zhu and Chen through Carone’s brother Anthony. In return, Carone would use his influence to help Zhu secure a $6.8 million emergency shelter contract for the Microtel Inn by Wyndham, a 75-room hotel in Long Island City that he owned, prosecutors said.
At the time, Carone held considerable sway as chief of staff to former Mayor Eric Adams, serving as the mayor’s liaison to city agencies. Carone, a longtime ally of former Mayor Adams, was part of Adams’ failed reelection campaign last year. He served as chief of staff in the former mayor’s administration before resigning from City Hall at the end of 2022. In 2023, he launched the consulting and lobbying firm Oaktree Solutions.
He is also among several figures connected to the Adams administration who have come under federal scrutiny in recent corruption investigations. Last year, businesswoman Weihong Hu was charged with fraud, bribery, and money laundering offenses tied to a separate migrant shelter contract scheme. Adams himself was indicted on federal bribery and corruption charges in 2024 — charges that were later dropped by the Trump administration after Adams said he would support the president’s immigration crackdown.
The alleged migrant shelter scheme unfolded as New York City, a city legally required to provide shelter, struggled to respond to an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers during the pandemic.
Faced with a surge in arrivals, city officials began contracting with hotels across the city to house migrants. To support those efforts, New York City received approximately $1.8 billion in federal funding in 2022 for migrant housing and related services.
Prosecutors allege that Carone used his position in City Hall to advocate for Zhu’s hotel despite repeated objections from the Department of Social Services. The DSS determined Zhu’s property was too small and located in an area already saturated with migrant shelters. Community members also strongly opposed the hotel.
Nevertheless, prosecutors allege that the then commissioner of DSS, a political appointee, continued pushing the proposal because of directives originating from Carone.
On Oct. 11, 2022, an official from the DSS subagency Department of Homeless Services, which oversees the city’s shelters, wrote in an email that the Microtel proposal had “come directly from the top” and should be considered approved despite concerns about its location. Less than two weeks later, the city awarded Zhu’s hotel the $6.8 million contract.
After the contract was approved, Zhu and Chen allegedly began making payments, $10,000 per month, to Frank Carone through Anthony Carone’s law firm, according to prosecutors.
Who is Andy Zhu?
According to Chinese-language media reports, Zhu, 51, immigrated to the United States from Fujian Province in 1992. Over the years, he built a reputation as a successful entrepreneur involved in real estate development and investment projects in both China and the United States.
In addition to serving as founder and CEO of East Times Group, Zhu has held leadership roles in a number of Chinese-American organizations, including honorary chief adviser of the United Chinese Associations of the Eastern United States Inc. and chairman of the Asian American Commerce Foundation.
According to photos posted to Zhu’s websites and multiple sources familiar with Zhu, Zhu gained connections to prominent figures in New York politics over the years, including former NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s former top aide Linda Sun, whose federal corruption trial ended in a mistrial earlier this year.
The indictment alleges that Zhu cultivated a close relationship with Carone after becoming interested in the city’s emergency shelter contract program in 2022. Prosecutors allege Zhu frequently invited Carone to his Nassau County mansion while seeking help securing a migrant shelter contract for his hotel.
In one text message cited in the indictment, Zhu sent Carone the address of the Microtel property and wrote, “please help me get done we need to refinance.”
In another exchange referenced by prosecutors, Chen, Microtel’s business manager, discussed the alleged $120,000 payment to the Carone brothers with a colleague. “The boss completely trusts the two brothers…In the end, it’s all about money and giving the two brothers a way out,” Chen wrote, according to the indictment.
Federal authorities allege the payments were disguised as legal fees to conceal their true purpose. The indictment states that money routed through Anthony Carone’s law firm was ultimately used to pay Frank Carone’s personal credit card bills, including expenses related to travel, dining, clothing, groceries, and fitness memberships.
On Wednesday, the FBI conducted a separate raid that involved several NYPD officials, including Sheppard. While it did not initially appear that the two were linked, multiple sources familiar with New York’s Chinese business community told Documented that Zhu has cultivated relationships with local politicians and senior government officials, including some of the NYPD officers targeted in the Wednesday federal sweep.
Photographs reviewed by Documented show Zhu appearing alongside Sheppard at Chinese community events in Flushing in 2025 and at a welcome event for the new commanding officer of the 107th Precinct in Queens in 2023.
Campaign finance records show Zhu had also donated thousands of dollars to political campaigns, including those of former New York City mayors Adams and Bill de Blasio, and U.S. Representatives Grace Meng, Hakeem Jeffries, and Tom Suozzi. Records also show he contributed the maximum allowable amount for individual donors, $44,300 per year, to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2026.
People who have known Zhu for years offered mixed assessments of him.
Peter Tu, chief adviser of the Flushing Chinese Business Association, said Zhu served on one of the association’s councils before the pandemic, though he did not know Yan Po Zhu was Andy Zhu’s legal name.
Tu said he felt sorry for Zhu after learning of his arrest. “He expanded [his business] too quickly. I hope his case serves as a warning to Chinese real estate developers,” Tu said in Mandarin. “What he was trying to do may have been a good thing, but if you go about it the wrong way, it can cross the line into illegality. That’s really unfortunate.”
“He is clever,” said a Flushing community member who has known Zhu for years and requested anonymity because of privacy concerns.
The individual described Zhu as living a lavish lifestyle, often entertaining guests, including some high-ranking government officials, at his mansion with expensive wine and cigars.
“But he also contributed a lot to the community, he made donations to some community organizations and the NYPD,” the person added in Mandarin.
Chinese-language media reports show Zhu donated $10,000 to the New York City Police Foundation in 2017, $100,000 to Fuzhou America, a nonprofit organization serving the Fuzhounese-American community, and thousands of masks to both mainland China and the NYPD during the pandemic.
These connections allowed him to rub elbows with some of the country’s most powerful people. On his own company website and in Chinese-language media, Zhu is pictured shaking hands with former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. He has been photographed with Jared Kushner. One photo shows him standing next to Donald Trump.
This public image was a sharp contrast to how Zhu appeared outside of Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. Wearing a face mask and dark blue baseball cap, and having changed clothes after his arraignment, Zhu quietly exited the courthouse, released on an $8 million bond.
When he realized reporters had recognized him, Zhu broke into a run toward a nearby park and disappeared around a street corner.
The post The Adviser and the Businessman: How a NYC Hotel Owner Became Linked to a $6.8 Million Migrant Shelter Bribery Scheme appeared first on Documented.
