Tim Pearson is retired from the NYPD, but as a senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams on public safety, he exerts great influence over the department.

According to a new lawsuit, he used that influence to retaliate against former NYPD Sergeant Roxanne Ludemann.

She alleges in a complaint filed this week that while she served in a special unit overseeing city agencies, Pearson “would regularly touch women when he was speaking to them,” rub a “woman subordinate’s arm or shoulder while they were talking” and that his touching of her “was never welcomed and were sexual in nature.”

According to Ludemann, Pearson told her she’d have to become his personal driver in order to earn a promotion. When she refused his advances, she says, he blocked her promotion, and she was then transferred more than five times in a year, among other retaliatory actions.

City Hall did not directly address the allegations Thursday.

“We will review the lawsuit and respond in court,” City Hall said in a brief statement.

The NYPD also declined comment.

Adams and Pearson have a close relationship that goes back decades. But since Adams took office, Pearson has been the subject of unwanted attention.

In 2022, it came to light that Pearson was drawing a second paycheck as a vice president as Resorts World Casino; Pearson subsequently gave up the casino job.

More recently, he was at the center of a scuffle with security guards at a migrant shelter, an incident that was being probed by the city’s department of investigation.

At the time, the mayor steadfastly defended him.

“Tim is one of my Knights of the Roundtable,” he said at a news conference in December. “I’ve seen him for almost 40 years now navigate challenging times.”

This week’s lawsuit also names NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, among other defendants.