A former top aide to Mayor de Blasio was quietly booted from City Hall last year after sexual-harassment complaints against him were substantiated, city officials said Thursday.
Kevin O’Brien — who was hired as a deputy chief of staff to de Blasio in January 2016 — resigned as a senior mayoral adviser in March 2018 after investigators confirmed “sexual harassment in violation of the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,” according to a heavily redacted seven-page report.
A mayoral spokesman refused to reveal the number of complaints against O’Brien, citing confidentiality for the victims.
“It is recommended that [O’Brien] be terminated from employment at the Mayor’s Office,” concluded the report, which was finalized on February 13.
O’Brien was allowed to resign on February. 15, but paid accrued time through March 23.
“The misconduct in this case literally makes me sick to my stomach. Angry doesn’t describe my view — I am livid,” de Blasio said.
But after O’Brien’s quiet exit, he was hired in April 2018 by the Brooklyn office of Hilltop Public Solutions.
Hilltop consultants worked on de Blasio’s 2013 campaign for mayor and helped run his Campaign for One advocacy group.
The firm’s managing partner, Nick Baldick, was at one time such a close adviser to the mayor that he was dubbed one of five so-called “Agents of the City.”
Officials at Hilltop said they hadn’t known about O’Brien’s misconduct when they hired him, but that he’s since been let go.
The mayor said he doesn’t talk to Baldick often and that he hasn’t spoken to O’Brien since the allegations were first made.
In a statement, O’Brien apologized for his misconduct, which he attributed to alcohol use.
“At an after-work event, I drank too much and acted inappropriately. No one deserves to be treated that way,” he said. “There’s no excuse for what I’ve done – I’m embarrassed and ashamed.”