Top NYPD, City Hall officials worked to undermine retaliation claims against Tim Pearson, court docs say

Graham Rayman and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Nov 17, 2025

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NEW YORK — Top officials at City Hall and the NYPD worked to undermine sexual harassment and retaliation accusations made by a female sergeant and three other cops against Timothy Pearson, one of Mayor Eric Adams’ top advisers, court papers filed Friday allege.

After Sgt. Roxanne Ludemann first accused Pearson of sexual harassment and retaliation in 2023, then-NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey ordered a subordinate to transfer her from a high-profile unit attached to City Hall and “tell her to keep her mouth shut,” according to a records cited in a demand letter from Ludemann’s attorney included in the case filings.

Around the same time, Ludemann’s boss, Deputy Chief Miltiadis Marmara, was the subject of a call expressing concern about his mental state made by Adams’ chief counsel Brendan McGuire to the commander of an NYPD unit that counsels cops in crisis, the filing claims.

Ludemann, who was part of the specialized City Hall-adjacent unit Adams empowered Pearson to lead, filed suit in March 2024. Marmara, who was part of the same unit, later filed his own lawsuit as did two other Ludemann colleagues, Lt. George Huang and Sgt. Michael Ferrari. All four alleged their careers were damaged by Pearson’s outsize influence on the NYPD because they backed Ludemann’s claims.

The latest filing calls the city to task for failing to turn over relevant text messages and Signal chats involving Adams, Pearson, Maddrey, then-Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks and Adams’ brother, Bernard.

“Your own materials confirm that each of these individuals communicated internally about Chief Marmara, took action concerning him, or were directly implicated in the retaliatory conduct alleged,” wrote lawyer John Scola. “Yet the City has produced nothing from any of them.”

Adams spokeswoman Liz Garcia called the allegations false and misleading and said the city has already produced thousands of pages of emails, texts and NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau files and is continuing to do so. She suggested Scola had not fully reviewed the documents because the city has produced numerous messages he claims have not been produced.

In one of the exchanges cited in the new court filing, an April 26, 2023, email conversation between NYPD Brooklyn North Chief Scott Henderson and Maddrey, Henderson wrote: “I’m assuming you spoke to Pearson so I’m telling [the sergeant] to pack her things, she’s going back to QS [Queens South]?”

“Yes, send her back, and tell her to keep her mouth shut,” Maddrey replied.

“That order was pure retaliation — an attempt to silence a woman who stood up to a sexual predator and to protect the administration instead of the victims,” Scola said.

As for McGuire, the filing alleges he suggested to Deputy Inspector Mark Wachter — commander of the NYPD employee assistance unit — in April 2023 that Marmara had a psychiatric issue.

“City Hall has a concern about a member of service,” McGuire allegedly said in a message to Wachter.

Wachter then spoke with Marmara, who assured him he was fine, the filing states.

Scola alleges welfare checks are a “retaliatory tactic” and said it was an attempt to undermine Marmara’s credibility, a point spelled out in the court filings.

Garcia defended McGuire’s request for a welfare check of Marmara, saying it wasn’t improper and was triggered by information that led to concern about the chief.

The filing goes on to claim that even though they are required to report sexual misconduct allegations for investigation, four high-ranking police officials failed to do so, including then-Chief of Internal Affairs Miguel Iglesias and the NYPD commissioner’s then-chief of staff, Oleg Chernyavsky.

Documents attached to the filing also confirm what the Daily News previously reported — that the city Department of Investigation was looking into the Pearson allegations. A DOI spokeswoman declined to comment Friday.

The saga, which has already cost the city well over $500,000 for a private firm representing Pearson, began in December 2022 when Pearson allegedly caressed Ludemann’s arm during a Christmas party. Ludemann expected to be promoted, but she was passed over after she complained to Marmara about Pearson’s advances, which allegedly included other overtures as well, The News has reported.

Except for Marmara, who remains the executive officer in Brooklyn North, all the main players in the saga have retired or resigned, including Pearson, who stepped down in fall 2024 after being ensnared in an unrelated federal corruption probe; no charges have been filed in that matter. Henderson retired after signing off on allowing a detective to stay with her ailing mother for a year, The News reported.

Maddrey retired ahead of an investigation into a sex for overtime scheme involving a lieutenant in his office and remains under federal scrutiny, The News has reported.

Ludemann, Ferrari and Huang have all retired.