{"id":193932,"date":"2026-04-12T02:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T02:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/193932\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T02:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T02:32:11","slug":"nyc-probing-accusation-probation-commissioner-had-inappropriate-relationship-with-subordinate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/193932\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC probing accusation Probation Commissioner had inappropriate relationship with subordinate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city is probing an episode involving Mayor Mamdani\u2019s new Department of Probation commissioner<\/a> after a former agency employee claimed she was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on a prior romantic relationship between the commissioner and a top aide.<\/p>\n

The employee, Ebony Huntley, filed the claims Thursday in a Manhattan Supreme Court suit<\/a> naming the Department of Probation, the commissioner, Sharun Goodwin, and the aide she allegedly had a prior relationship with, department general counsel Wayne McKenzie.<\/p>\n

The episode\u00a0represents the first personnel scandal in the upper ranks of Mamdani\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take any allegations of misconduct incredibly seriously,\u201d Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx. \u201cI\u2019m not going to be weighing in on any ongoing investigation however New Yorkers should rest assured that there is an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani has often repeated that he wants to set a new tone after the scandal-scarred Adams administration.<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during the NYPD\u2019s first quarter crime stats press conference Thursday, April 2, 2026 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take any concerns raised about our workplace environment, leadership, and operations seriously,\u201d Regina Graham, a spokesperson for the DOP, said in a statement. \u201cThe allegations in this lawsuit will be duly addressed as the legal process runs its course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huntley, who served as the department\u2019s chief investigator before her termination, wrote in the lawsuit that she received an anonymous staff complaint about a \u201cprior intimate relationship\u201d between Goodwin and McKenzie. It was not clear when that relationship took place or if they were involved when Goodwin brought McKenzie on board as general counsel.<\/p>\n

The staffer wrote in the late March complaint, which was included in the lawsuit, that the prior relationship \u201cpresented a conflict of interest and impacted impartial decision-making.\u201d The anonymous staff also raised concerns about others in the department. The lawsuit was first reported by Politico.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCollectively, the Complaint described a workplace environment where employees felt uneasy, discouraged from speaking openly, and uncertain about their job security,\u201d the suit reads.<\/p>\n

Huntley said she passed along the complaint to the city\u2019s Department of Investigation in accordance with her job duties.<\/p>\n

A day later, McKenzie summoned her to a meeting and fired her, saying he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d in her integrity, she alleges. \u201cI cannot have a person like Ebony working for me,\u201d she claimed McKenzie said in the meeting, at which others were present.<\/p>\n

\"DepartmentDepartment of Probation Commissioner Sharun Goodwin. (Michael Appleton \/ Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\n

John Scola, Huntley\u2019s attorney, called for Mamdani to take action.\u00a0\u201cMayor Mamdani needs to send a clear message that whistleblower retaliation will not be tolerated in his administration,\u201d Scola said.<\/p>\n

The DOP was mired in allegations of nepotism<\/a> and cronyism under ex-Mayor Adams and his commissioner, Juanita Holmes<\/a>, who Goodwin worked under as a deputy commissioner in the department before retiring in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city is probing an episode involving Mayor Mamdani\u2019s new Department of Probation commissioner after a former agency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,267,9,24,10,692,12,63,87,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-193932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-politics","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}