Colombia’s government spent as much as $5,000 on travel expenses for embattled City Hall adviser Tim Pearson during his trip to the country with Mayor Adams last year — contradicting claims by the mayor that he and Pearson “picked up their own costs.”
Pearson, who’s currently facing multiple investigations and lawsuits over allegations of sexual and professional misconduct, traveled to Colombia with Adams in October as part of what the mayor’s office called a “fact-finding mission” about the root causes of the city’s migrant crisis.
After returning from the trip, Adams said he and Pearson, an ex-NYPD officer and public safety adviser to the mayor, used their own money for travel costs.
“Tim Pearson paid his own way, I paid my own way … The team picked up their own costs,” he said.
But Pearson’s annual financial disclosure, which was provided to the Daily News by the Conflicts of Interest Board on Friday, states the “Columbian [sic] Government” paid between $1,000 and $5,000 on his “airplane travel and ground transportation” during the trip.
City government financial disclosures only offer value ranges as opposed to exact dollar figures for assets and debts. Adams’ office didn’t return a request for comment on the exact amount Colombia spent on Pearson or why the mayor insisted he covered his own tab.
Adams’ financial disclosure released earlier this year showed he also got his Colombia travel expenses covered by its government despite claiming he paid them himself.
Besides the Colombia trip, Pearson’s disclosure says he owes between $60,000 and $99,000 to the IRS and is owed between $100,000 and $250,000 from the “NYS Claims Department.” Pearson didn’t report the IRS debt on his 2022 disclosure, meaning he accrued it last year, though the nature of it isn’t explained on the form.
There’s no state agency called the Claims Department. Adams’ office didn’t return a request for comment on that matter or the IRS debt.
The revelations about Pearson’s finances come as he faces four civil lawsuits from NYPD employees alleging he sexually assaulted and harassed multiple women, both before and after joining Adams’ administration, as well as a city Department of Investigation probe into allegations he assaulted a migrant shelter security guard.
Amid the legal issues, Adams, who worked with Pearson in the NYPD, has defended him and not modified his duties.
