Former NYC Buildings commissioner to surrender to law enforcement

NEW YORK — Former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich is expected to surrender at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office Wednesday morning and face indictment on charges related to accepting a deal on apartment and furnishings from a real estate developer and for ties to illegal gambling.

Bragg’s office has told Ulrich to present himself at the Manhattan criminal courthouse sometime after 7 a.m. Wednesday, and he’s scheduled to be arraigned at 2:15 p.m., according to Ulrich’s lawyer Samuel Braverman.

But Braverman said he and Ulrich still haven’t seen the charges.

“I truly and honestly have no inside information as to what the charges are. Anybody who says they know are lying unless they are the DA or a grand juror. If I know what the charges are, I would comment,” he said Tuesday, but “it would be rank speculation” to comment before that.

Bragg’s office declined to comment.

Ulrich was charged earlier this summer, but the indictment has been sealed, The New York Times first reported. At least four other people are expected to be charged in relation to the same investigation, which has been ongoing for nearly a year.

Ulrich resigned from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in November after his phone was seized by Bragg’s office. Others expected to face charges are brothers Joseph and Anthony Livreri, who own two Queens pizza shops and co-hosted an August 2021 fundraiser for Adams’ mayoral campaign. Mark Caller, a real estate developer, is also expected to be charged. He hosted a separate, lucrative August 2021 fundraiser for Adams’ campaign, the news outlet The City first reported.

Adams is not expected to be implicated in the case, and the charges are not expected to involve Adams’ campaign. In a separate case, six other fundraisers for Adams’ campaign were charged by Bragg in July and were accused of running an illegal straw donor scheme to curry favor with the mayor.

Ulrich, a Republican, previously served on the New York City council from 2009 to 2021. He crossed party lines to support Adams in his 2021 campaign, and he was named a senior adviser to the mayor when Adams took office. Months later, he was appointed commissioner of the department of buildings.