Maddrey denies demanding sex for OT, says sex with Epps was consensual

Josephine Stratman and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Dec 28, 2024

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NEW YORK — Ex-NYPD Chief Jeffery Maddrey’s lawyer attacked the police lieutenant who accused Maddrey of a lurid sex-for-overtime arrangement, saying she lied about the former top cop to get away with a “scheme” to collect overtime pay — though the attorney admitted the two had a “consensual” sexual relationship.

Maddrey was the city’s highest-ranking uniformed police officer until his resignation last week after the bombshell allegations from NYPD Lt. Quathisha Epps, who said he sexually harassed her and forced her to perform “unwanted sexual favors” in return for overtime pay.

“We can tell you now, those allegations are a lie,” Maddrey’s lawyer, Lambros Lambrou, said. “They’re not true. We deny every aspect of them.”

Epps filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Dec. 21.

She alleged Maddrey repeatedly demanded sex in exchange for her getting overtime hours, and that when the lieutenant began to reject Maddrey’s advances, he retaliated by adding her name to a list of the department’s top overtime earners, according to the complaint.

But Maddrey’s lawyer said Epps came out with the allegations against him to get away with filing for tons of overtime, including $204,000 just this year.

“Lieutenant Epps got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and is trying to deflect her own wrongdoing by making these allegations against Chief Maddrey in the hopes that she will get away with part or all of her scheme,” Lambrou said.

The attorney also said that, as NYPD chief of department, Maddrey had no oversight of overtime requests.

“He’s going to take the gloves off and fight for his good name going forward, and he looks forward to proving that these allegations are nothing more than an attempt to skirt criminal liability,” Lambrou said of his client.

The former police chief appeared blank-faced standing alongside Lambrou at the attorney’s downtown Manhattan office on Friday. He did not address reporters.

Lambrou said Epps and Maddrey had a “consensual adult relationship,” indicating this would be proven with “tons” of “X-rated and racy videos and photographs” sent by Epps, whom the attorney called a “self-professed swinger.”

Meanwhile, Eric Sanders, an attorney representing Epps, slammed the former police chief as a “degenerate.”

“This clown is a f—ing disgrace,” he countered. “We have a treasure trove of digital data that will hopefully bring this degenerate to justice.”

Maddrey has been under a great deal of scrutiny in the past, including for a confrontation with a police officer named Tabatha Foster, who claims she was involved with him. Sanders also represented Foster and said Lambrou was using the “same old dilatory tactics” against Epps that he used to defend Maddrey versus Foster.

Epps filed for retirement earlier this month, but she was suspended shortly afterward, after an internal investigation into her overtime pay began.

Maddrey has been named in multiple other suits, including one sexual harassment suit he was added to a few days before Epps’ allegations came to light.

“Jeff resigned and retired upon hearing of this last meritless complaint, because he’s been through this before,” his lawyer said of Epps’ complaint. “The city has enough going on without these allegations swirling around.”