Former chief of staff to ex-NYC Mayor Eric Adams arrested, sources say
handcuffs fingerprints (ATU Images/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Frank Carone, a former chief of staff to ex-New York Mayor Eric Adams, was arrested on Wednesday morning along with his brother Anthony and two others as part of a federal bribery case, sources familiar with the case told ABC News.
Carone and the others were expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. Their indictment remained sealed on Wednesday, so the exact charges were not immediately known.
The case centers on a city contract issued during the Adams administration, sources told ABC News.
Carone helped with Adams’ transition into office in January 2022 and served as the mayor’s chief of staff until that December, when he departed the administration. He said as he departed that it had been an “honor keeping the trains running for this administration,” according to a press release from the time.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Actor Matthew Perry of the television show ‘The Kennedys – After Camelot’ speaks onstage during the REELZChannel portion of the 2017 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel on January 13, 2017, in Pasadena, California (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES, Calif. ) — A man who helped supply Matthew Perry with the doses of ketamine that killed the “Friends” actor was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison.
Erik Fleming, a licensed drug addiction counselor, admitted in a plea agreement to working with another dealer to provide Perry with dozens of vials of ketamine, including the dose that led to the actor’s fatal overdose in October 2023 at the age of 54.
Fleming is one of five people charged and convicted in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry. He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
He faced up to 25 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The sentence also includes three years of supervised release.
“I am regretfully sorry for the pain and anguish I have caused the family. It’s what hurts me the most,” Fleming told reporters upon leaving the courthouse.
He said he deserved a consequence, “and I got a consequence.”
“My chest and heart hurt every day for the pain that I’ve caused not only his family, but the millions of people who adored him,” Fleming said.
Federal prosecutors argued in a memorandum filed ahead of sentencing that Fleming should receive 30 months in prison due to his “profit-seeking behavior and reckless distribution of dubiously manufactured drugs.”
They said that after learning through a friend that Perry was seeking illicit ketamine, Fleming brokered multiple transactions between the other dealer, Jasveen Sangha, and the actor’s live-in personal assistant, “despite knowing the risk and dangers of selling the drugs.”
They said Fleming knew about Perry’s history of addiction and still chose to sell him drugs, which, unlike medical-grade ketamine, were contained in clear, unmarked vials of unknown concentrations. They said he also marked up the price of the vials Sangha was selling from $160 to $220.
They said Fleming struggled with addiction himself and was “well aware of the warning signs of drug seeking behavior,” but that he “nonetheless elected to insert himself into Mr. Perry’s addiction story to profit from it.”
“Although defendant’s drug trafficking appear[s] to be limited to the drug sales in October 2023, his criminal conduct nonetheless caused significant harm, including the loss of Mr. Perry’s life,” prosecutors stated.
Defense attorneys, meanwhile, requested that Fleming be sentenced to three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility “where he can continue the hard work he has put into maintaining his sobriety.”
His attorneys, Robert Dugdale and Jeffrey Chemerinsky, said Fleming “relapsed into heavy drug use” following the death of his stepmother in September 2023 and was “most vulnerable to engage in uncharacteristically reckless conduct.” They argued that he only brokered three transactions “involving very small quantities” of ketamine to a single customer in exchange for less than $2,000 for “logistical fees.”
“Tragically, this brief diversion Mr. Fleming took from his otherwise law-abiding life led to a calamity Mr. Fleming never intended and foolishly did not foresee as possible,” the attorneys stated in a sentencing memorandum.
“Mr. Fleming is appearing at his sentencing fully acknowledging the role he played in this tragedy and is as remorseful as one could be for the harm he has caused those close to Mr. Perry,” they continued.
Fleming’s attorneys maintained there are multiple mitigating factors, including his “extraordinary cooperation,” which they said helped lead to the “immediate apprehension” of Sangha. Since pleading guilty, he has also “worked tirelessly to maintain his sobriety” and opened a sober living home, they said.
Prosecutors agreed that Fleming warranted leniency for accepting responsibility and cooperating with the government’s investigation, “including information that furthered the prosecution of a more culpable defendant,” Sangha.
Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month. She pleaded guilty last year to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Prosecutors said she ran a “high-volume drug trafficking business” out of her residence in North Hollywood and continued to sell “dangerous drugs” even after learning she had sold ketamine that contributed to the overdose deaths of two men: Perry and, years earlier, Los Angeles resident Cody McLaury.
In addition to Fleming and Sangha, three other people were charged and pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death: Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant; and two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia.
Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, and that in October 2023, they sold the actor 51 vials of ketamine that were provided to Iwamasa.
“Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming,” the DOJ said in a press release last year. “Specifically, on October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.”
Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.
Chavez and Plasencia have already been sentenced for their roles in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry.
Chavez, who once ran a ketamine clinic, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced to eight months of home confinement in December 2025.
Plasencia, who briefly treated Perry before the actor’s death, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of distribution of ketamine and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in December 2025.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A suspect has been apprehended after a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while attending a prayer service in Minnesota, authorities said.
Khalid Ibrahim Abdi was shot multiple times just before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee, about 25 miles outside of Minneapolis, the Shakopee Police Department said.
He was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center and later died from his injuries, police said.
A suspect was taken into custody Thursday morning and is being held pending charges, police said. The suspect’s name has not been publicly released.
Abdi was a member and field representative of the AFSCME Council 5 labor union, according to AFSCME Council 5 executive director Bart Andersen.
“It is with unimaginable sadness and heartbreak to share that we lost our union brother and AFSCME Council 5 Field Representative Khalid Abdi today, who was shot and killed while attending an Eid prayer gathering,” Anderson said in a statement.
“Khalid will be forever remembered for his tenacious organizing spirit, his warm and inviting presence, and his unyielding passion and drive to fight for the working-class and all historically marginalized communities,” Anderson said.
“Please keep Khalid’s family, friends, neighbors, and all of us coworkers in your thoughts,” he continued. “Khalid’s tenacity, heart, and joy lives in all of us forever.”
Created by CDC microbiologist Frederick A Murphy, this transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).
(NEW YORK) — The American doctor infected with Ebola said he is “cautiously optimistic” about his health improving amid more severe symptoms.
Dr. Peter Stafford contracted the disease while working with patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was evacuated to Germany to receive specialty care and is currently hospitalized at Charite University Hospital in Berlin.
“Before I was evacuated I was feeling really concerned I wasn’t going to make it, and now I’m cautiously optimistic,” Stafford said in a press release from Serge, the international Christian missionary group that employs him.
His colleague, Dr. Scott Myhre, Serge area director for East and Central Africa, said Stafford is critically ill but feeling better than he did on Wednesday, and is able to eat small amounts of food.
Stafford initially experienced what are known as “dry” symptoms such as fever, aches and fatigue.
However, he is currently experiencing “wet” symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea. Myhre said Stafford’s laboratory reports are “trending slightly in the right direction.”
“Peter has also received two intravenous treatments designed to improve Ebola outcomes,” Myhre said in the press release. “The German care teams rotate in three-hour shifts since they must wear full-body hazmat suits as they care for him. We’re thankful for their dedication and expertise.”
On Wednesday, Stafford’s colleague, Matt Allison, executive director of Serge, told ABC News that the doctor has been receiving monoclonal antibodies during his hospitalization.
Stafford’s wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, and their four children landed in Berlin at 10 p.m. local time Wednesday and have been moved into a separate space at Charite University Hospital. All are asymptomatic and will continue to isolate and be monitored, according to Serge.
The organization added that Stafford’s family is able to see him through a window.
Meanwhile, another Serge missionary physician, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, is currently at Bulovka Hospital in Prague. He is quarantine and remains asymptomatic, Serge said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced new arrival restrictions for flights carrying people who were recently in Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan amid the Ebola outbreak in the region.
Flights will be ordered to land at Washington-Dulles Airport in Virginia, the notice said, where “enhanced public health measures are being implemented.”
The Ebola outbreak in the eastern DRC had caused 139 suspected deaths with nearly 600 suspected cases as of Wednesday, according to an update from World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Tedros said cases of Ebola have been reported in several urban areas of the eastern DRC amid the ongoing outbreak, including the major cities of Goma and Bunia, and that at least two cases and one death have been recorded in neighboring Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Cases have also been reported among health workers, according to Ghebreyesus.
At least 51 cases have so far been confirmed in the ongoing outbreak.
The DHS flight restriction notice said that while South Sudan has not reported any confirmed cases in the current outbreak, “It is considered at high risk because of its close border with affected areas in eastern DRC and Uganda, limited healthcare infrastructure and cross-border population movement.”
The outbreak was first detected in the DRC’s northeastern province of Ituri, with cases officially confirmed by the health ministry on May 15. It marks the 17th outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the DRC, which is Africa’s second-largest country and its fourth-most populous nation.
The WHO convened an emergency committee on Tuesday night, following Tedros’ declaration of a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday — one level below a pandemic in the United Nations agency’s alert system.
It was the first time a WHO chief had declared such an emergency before convening the emergency committee. After the meeting, the committee agreed that the outbreak did not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency, which was applied to the global COVID-19 outbreak.
Anais Legand, the WHO’s technical officer for viral hemorrhagic fevers, said on Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak may have started a couple of months ago and that investigations are ongoing.
“Our priority is really to cut the transmission chain by implementing contact tracing, isolating and caring for all suspects and confirmed cases,” she said.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of Ebola for which there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics and which requires different diagnostics than other variants. Case fatality rates for previous Bundibugyo outbreaks have ranged from 30% to 50%, according to the WHO.
Dr. Satish K. Pillai, incident manager for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola response, confirmed at a CDC press conference on Tuesday that genetic testing from this outbreak shows it is similar to the “genetic fingerprints” from outbreaks in 2007 and 2012, meaning there are diagnostic tools available that can detect this strain of Ebola.
Pillai said on Monday that the agency had activated its Emergency Operations Center through its country offices in the DRC and in Uganda, and is deploying technical experts that have been requested from Atlanta headquarters.
The risk to the U.S. general public remains low, Pillai said.
Also on Monday, the CDC introduced entry restrictions on non-U.S. passport holders that had been in Uganda, the DRC or South Sudan in the previous 21 days before attempted entry into the U.S.
ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss, Mary Kekatos and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
