Eric Ulrich

Introduction

Eric Ulrich is a former New York City buildings commissioner, one-time senior advisor to Mayor Eric Adams, and a Republican who spent more than a decade on the City Council representing Ozone Park, Queens. On October 19, 2026, he went on trial in Manhattan Supreme Court — a bench trial before Justice Daniel Conviser — on sixteen felony counts spread across five indictments accusing him of trading political access for more than $150,000 in cash, Mets season tickets, a bespoke suit and a painting. At 41, he is the first veteran of the Adams administration’s corruption cases to actually reach trial. Ulrich has pleaded not guilty, and every charge against him remains an unproven allegation unless proven in court.

Background Information

Born February 13, 1985, in Ozone Park, Ulrich won a 2009 special election to the City Council’s 32nd district at age 24 and held the seat through the end of 2021. Mayor Adams named him a senior advisor in January 2022 and buildings commissioner that May — head of the agency that enforces building codes, issues permits and answers structural emergencies across a city of more than one million buildings. He resigned on November 3, 2022, roughly six months into the job, after the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation — which Bragg later said included a court-authorized search warrant — caught up with him. The Rackets Bureau case was built on court-ordered electronic surveillance, search warrants, physical surveillance and financial records, prosecutors said.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations on trial. Ulrich has pleaded not guilty to all counts across five indictments charging conspiracy, bribe receiving and offering a false instrument for filing. Nothing has been proven against him; the trial that began October 19, 2026 will decide the charges.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced on September 13, 2023 that Ulrich, then 38, “accepted or solicited more than $150,000 worth of bribes in less than two years by monetizing each elected and appointed role he held in New York City government.” The alleged scheme ran across all three posts. As a councilman, prosecutors say, he hired friend Joseph Livreri as a part-time aide into 2021 and helped an associate secure paperwork for a client’s liquor license. As senior advisor, he is accused of fixing city licensing problems for Michael Mazzio, owner of Mike’s Heavy Duty Towing, and securing a Department of Correction policy-analyst job — with a roughly $20,000 raise — for Mazzio’s daughter. As buildings commissioner, he allegedly pulled strings so the Livreris’ pizzeria and a Williamsburg bakery passed inspections, and tried to influence City Planning to win a Rockaway Park zoning change so developer Mark Caller’s Marcal Group could build a mixed-use project.

The consideration, per prosecutors: a premium Mets season-ticket package valued at nearly $10,000 — including roughly $5,000 for ten tickets to a 2022 Subway Series — a bespoke suit, a painting by Salvador Dalí’s last surviving apprentice, a discounted beachfront apartment and thousands in cash, “most of” which Bragg said “went toward gambling,” including at an illegal casino partially owned by one of his associates. He also failed to disclose income on the annual financial disclosure filings required of him from 2017 through 2021, according to the indictment announcement. Ulrich was charged alongside six associates: the Livreri brothers, Mazzio, Caller, DOB filing representative Paul Grego and former correction officer Victor Truta.

Two pretrial developments have since shaped the case. The Livreri brothers pleaded guilty on September 9, 2026, admitting they paid Ulrich $4,000 — cash in an envelope — to stop the buildings department from enforcing a vacate order against a bakery torched in a fire; their lawyer insists they are not cooperating with the government. And in January 2026, Justice Conviser dismissed the single indictment naming Ulrich and Caller together — bribery, bribe receiving and conspiracy counts — while denying every motion to dismiss the other four indictments. Mazzio remains a co-defendant at the trial table, accused of funding the Mets tickets and paying Ulrich to expedite building and health inspections for his towing business.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Bragg framed the case as a betrayal of public office: “At every possible turn, Ulrich allegedly used his taxpayer-funded positions as City Councilmember, then Senior Mayoral Advisor, and finally Department of Buildings Commissioner to line his pockets.” Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said officials who use their positions to enrich themselves “betray the trust placed in them to act in the public interest,” vowing to pursue bribery “at any level of New York City government.” Ulrich’s attorney, Samuel Braverman, answered within hours of the surrender: “Mr. Ulrich unequivocally denies these charges and looks forward to his day in court where only the evidence matters, not charging documents or press releases.” As the trial opened, coverage noted the gap between the case’s political weight — the first Adams-era prosecution to reach a judge — and the comparatively modest scale of the alleged loot.

Current Status

Ulrich’s bench trial began October 19, 2026 before Justice Daniel Conviser and is expected to last several weeks; he is being tried on two indictments, including the Mazzio case, and faces a minimum of five years behind bars if convicted of bribery. He has claimed he is too poor to afford an attorney. The Livreri brothers stand convicted by their pleas, which came weeks before they were to stand trial beside him; the Grego and Truta cases remain active; only the dismissed Caller indictment has ended in Ulrich’s favor.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A Republican elected at 24 who crossed party lines into a Democratic mayor’s inner circle, Ulrich watched a career built on accessibility and deal-making collapse into the defining prosecution of the Adams era: he resigned the commissionership after six months, surrendered to face sixteen felonies, and now stands as the first of the former administration’s corruption defendants to put the government to its proof. The agency he briefly led — code enforcement for a city of more than a million buildings — became the alleged marketplace, with expedited inspections, vacate-order relief and city jobs said to be for sale around him.

Sources

• New York Post, “Disgraced ex-NYC Buildings head finally heads to trial for allegedly pocketing thousands in bribes,” October 19, 2026 — source
• The City Reporter, Greg B. Smith, “First Adams-Era Corruption Trial Begins — Without a Jury,” October 19, 2026 — source
• Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, “D.A. Bragg, D.O.I. Commiss. Announce Sweeping Bribery, Conspiracy Indictments Against Former DOB Commissioner Eric Ulrich, Multiple Associates,” September 13, 2023 — source
• Spectrum News NY1, “Ex-NYC buildings chief charged with accepting $150K in bribes,” September 13, 2023 — source
• People v. Ulrich, 2026 NY Slip Op 50230(U), 88 Misc 3d 1225(A), Supreme Court, New York County, Conviser, J., January 23, 2026 — source
• Wikipedia, “Eric Ulrich” — source