NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� A former New York City official who helped coordinate the city鈥檚 response to the pandemic was fired from his private-sector job after a recording showed him talking about attending a sex party and other private gatherings when the city was urging people to practice social distancing.
Dr. Jay Varma was terminated from his position as executive vice president and chief medical officer at SIGA Technologies, the New York-based pharmaceutical company disclosed in a filing Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Varma served as a to then-Mayor Bill de Blasio from April 2020 to May 2021. He regularly appeared with the Democratic mayor at press briefings discussing the city鈥檚 COVID-19 response and helped develop programs and strategies to combat the virus, including encouraging people to wear masks in public, get tested regularly and get vaccinated, once vaccines were available.
A hidden-camera video posted last week by a conservative podcaster shows Varma speaking casually to a woman about attending gatherings even as he served as a face of the city鈥檚 pandemic response.
鈥淚 did all this deviant, sexual stuff while I was on TV and people were like, 鈥楢ren鈥檛 you afraid? Aren鈥檛 you embarrassed?鈥欌�� he said at one point in the edited recording. 鈥淎nd I was like, no, I really like being my authentic self.鈥�
Varma also acknowledged how disastrous his actions would have been to the city鈥檚 efforts had they been exposed at the time.
鈥淚t would have been a big deal,鈥� he said at another point in the video. 鈥淚t would have been a real embarrassment.鈥�
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a yearslong government inquiry revealed he and members of his administration attended parties in government offices in violation of COVID-19 lockdown rules at the time.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom faced criticism for when he attended a friend鈥檚 birthday party at the swanky French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley in November 2020.
Varma declined Tuesday to comment on his firing, but acknowledged the authenticity of the video in a statement provided by a spokesperson.
鈥淚 take responsibility for not using the best judgment at the time,鈥� he wrote, adding that the recordings were from private conversations that had been 鈥渟ecretly recorded, spliced, diced, and taken out of context.鈥�
Varma didn鈥檛 elaborate on the events he referenced in the video, but acknowledged attending at least three private gatherings during his City Hall tenure.
Varma, in the video, said one party took place in a hotel room in August 2020 with about 8 to 10 people, including his wife, who were naked and taking the recreational drug molly, or ecstasy.
By then, New York鈥檚 governor had begun , with indoor gatherings of up to 10 people permitted months earlier. Varma said he still took precautions to make sure he wasn鈥檛 caught.
鈥淚 had to be kind of sneaky about it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was running the entire COVID response for the city.鈥�
He also attended a drug-fueled dance party with roughly 200 people in a space under a Wall Street bank in May or June of 2021, according to the recording. In mid-May, New York state had raised the limit on indoor gatherings to 250 people and by mid-June, it had lifted most pandemic restrictions.
Varma, who left his City Hall position around that time but continued to serve as a part-time consultant, according to his LinkedIn bio, recalled being worried about being spotted at the party at the time.
鈥淭his was not COVID-friendly,鈥� he said in the video, which appears to have been stitched together from recordings made secretly during a number of different social encounters with an unidentified woman, who is off camera.
A spokesperson for SIGA Technologies didn鈥檛 respond to emails seeking comment.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, declined to wade into the controversy Tuesday during his regular City Hall briefing with reporters. Some local conservatives called for a government inquiry.
鈥淭he hypocrisy is outrageous,鈥� said City Council Member Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat, who applauded Varma's firing. 鈥淢illions were impacted by their heavy-handed policies, and the public deserves accountability.鈥�
Varma in his statement defended his efforts to respond to the pandemic and denounced the video as part of 鈥渄angerous extremist efforts to undermine the public鈥檚 confidence鈥� in vaccines.
鈥淔acing the greatest public health crisis in a century, our top priority was to save lives, and every decision made was based on the best available science to keep New Yorkers safe,鈥� he wrote.
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Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press
