According to a recent ruling by a Manhattan judge, Financial Vision Group, a health insurance company co-founded by Frank Carone, who until recently was Mayor Adams’ chief of staff, has been ordered to pay over $726,000 to a prominent New York City real estate firm, SL Green, to settle a longstanding rent debt. The dispute began when Financial Vision stopped paying rent for an office space it leased from SL Green in 2019, leading to a lawsuit filed by the landlord in 2021.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Louis Knock has ruled in favor of SL Green on Tuesday, ordering Financial Vision to pay the real estate firm $726,682, along with interest, for the overdue rent.

Last month, Justice Louis Knock had already ordered Financial Vision to pay a minimum of $179,000 to cover the rent owed for the period between March 2022, when SL Green terminated the lease, and June 2022, when Financial Vision left the office space. Therefore, the recent ruling by Judge Knock, which orders the company to pay more than $726,682 in unpaid rent plus interest, was not surprising.

In a text message on Wednesday, Carone stated that he has no involvement in the SL Green case and therefore has no interest in any updates regarding it. Carone, a politically-connected attorney who previously served as Adams’ confidante and is now his chief of staff, co-founded Financial Vision in 2018 with his former law partner and three others, according to incorporation documents that The News reviewed.

Financial Vision is a company that provides advances to medical companies in exchange for a fee while they wait for insurance payouts, and it has connections to Zhan and Robert Petrosyants, who are criminally convicted brothers and close friends with Adams.

Carone has claimed that he divested or put all of his private sector assets into a blind trust when he became the chief of staff in January 2022 and that he has not been involved with Financial Vision since then.

However, a copy of the original lease for the company’s office on the 23rd floor of SL Green’s Sixth Ave. building, submitted in court and dated September 3, 2019, contains what appears to be Carone’s signature.

Last month, Carone denied signing the lease, and on Wednesday, he stated that he suspects someone falsified his signature, and he reported this unlawful use of his name and signature to the appropriate authority. However, he did not mention which authority he contacted. SL Green’s representative declined to comment on Carone’s allegation of a forged signature, and Howard Fensterman, who has recently presented himself as an active member of Financial Vision in court records, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Although Financial Vision did not respond to the lawsuit, SL Green stated in court documents last year that the company claimed it was entitled to a pandemic-related rent abatement, a position disputed by the real estate firm.

After leaving City Hall, Carone founded Oaktree Solutions, a consulting firm that aims to serve clients in politics and other industries, and he is expected to lead Adams’ 2025 re-election campaign. Carone mentioned to Politico last month that Oaktree Solutions is in discussions with potential clients interested in obtaining a casino license in the city, but he did not reveal their names. However, SL Green is one of several entities pursuing bids for the lucrative casino license.