A former top NYPD official admitted Friday that he had a sexual relationship with a subordinate, but denied her claims that he demanded sex in exchange for extra pay.
In a sobering sit-down interview exclusively with NBC New York, former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey pushed back against the blaring headlines and public accusations that he demanded sex from Lt. Quathisha Epps in exchange for generous overtime pay and other perks. He also denied signing off on any overtime for her, or pressuring her in any way.
When asked if he forced any subordinate to perform any sexual favors, Maddrey said "absolutely not," and described the relationship between he and Epps as "an office fling."
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"Me and Lieutenant Epps worked together starting in early 2022. We were together for about a year and a half....One thing led to another. We had an office fling, and that's all it was, it was an office fling," said Maddrey.
Formerly the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed officer, Maddrey downplayed any notion of it being a serious relationship between them.
"We had got together a couple of times, there was really nothing to it. There was no romance. We weren't girlfriend and boyfriend," he told News 4.
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While Maddrey said the relationship was "absolutely consensual," he acknowledged that it "wasn't appropriate for me to be in a relationship with anyone," which he said is ultimately why he resigned.
"That's part of the reason I did make the decision to step down, because I knew I used bad judgement," he said.
The exclusive interview came less than a week after he abruptly resigned following the graphic, salacious allegations of sexual misconduct — just the latest bombshell to embroil the upper ranks of the NYPD. Epps raised allegations against Maddrey on Dec. 21 in a complaint she filed against the city with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In the complaint, she claimed Maddrey, engaged in “quid pro quo sexual harassment” by coercing her to “perform unwanted sexual favors in exchange for overtime opportunities in the workplace.”
Epps, who held an administrative post in Maddrey’s office, was the NYPD's top earner in fiscal year 2024, according to payroll data, pulling in more than $400,000 — more than half of it in overtime pay.
Epps contends that when she finally pushed back at Maddrey’s demands, he retaliated by claiming she was abusing overtime, prompting the department to launch a review. Maddrey's attorney, Lambros Lambrou, said Friday that the timing didn't add up because Epps was already under investigation before she filed her complaint.
"What happened here seems to be that Lieutenant Epps is under investigation internally by the NYPD since October, and the allegations are that not only was she putting in for excessive overtime, but that she was actually putting in for overtime that she had not completed or done. So that she was effectively stealing time," Lambrou told NBC New York. "So when she put in her retirement papers, two days later the NYPD suspended her. And they suspended her because of suspicion that she had committed a crime, which is stealing overtime from the NYPD."
Maddrey stood silently as Lambrou later spoke to reporters at his Manhattan law office, saying the 33-year NYPD veteran had a “consensual, adult relationship” with Epps and had no authority to sign off on overtime pay. He and Maddrey also noted they have evidence backing up their statements that the relationship was consensual, including intimate text messages and images.
"Lt Epps got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and is trying to deflect her wrong doing by making these allegations against Chief Maddrey," Lambrou said.
Lt. Epps and her attorneys did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment from NBC New York. However, Epps' lawyer, Eric Sanders, told The Associated Press that Lambrou’s admission that Maddrey had a sexual relationship with Epps undercut a previous statement denying “every aspect” of the allegations.
“We have a treasure trove of digital data that will hopefully bring this degenerate to justice,” Sanders said.
The NYPD has declined to comment on the allegations against Maddrey other than to say it “takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously and will thoroughly investigate this matter.”
Maddrey, a close ally of mayor and former police captain Eric Adams, joined the NYPD in 1991 and rose through the ranks to become chief of patrol in 2021. In 2023, he was promoted to chief of department despite a history of internal disciplinary issues, including an allegation that he lied to investigators about an affair with another subordinate.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted Maddrey's resignation on Dec. 20, effective immediately. She appointed John Chell, the former chief of patrol, to the position on an interim basis.
Maddrey’s resignation followed months of scandal and leadership turnover at the NYPD, the nation’s largest police department. In September, Commissioner Edward Caban resigned after federal agents searched his home as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into members of Adams’ inner circle.
Soon after, Timothy Pearson, another Adams adviser with wide latitude over the NYPD, resigned after investigators seized devices and cash from his home. He has also been accused of sexual harassment by multiple colleagues.
Neither Pearson nor Caban have been criminally charged, and both have denied wrongdoing.
