In a coordinated series of moves, FBI agents seized the phones of at least four top aides to Mayor Eric Adams, including three who oversee the NYPD, in a major new federal probe of City Hall.
Early Wednesday morning, according to the New York Post, federal agents fanned out across the city with search warrants and subpoenas, going after Edward Caban, the police commissioner (and his chief of staff), Tim Pearson; a mayoral adviser with significant influence over the department; Phil Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety; and Sheena Wright, the first deputy mayor. Terence Banks, a lobbyist, are also under scrutiny. The searches were first reported by The City.
Investigators are said to have sought electronic devices, including phones, in a probe by Manhattan federal prosecutors that remains shrouded in secrecy. The searches appear to be unrelated to the U.S. attorney office’s ongoing inquiry into Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign concerning links to Turkey, according to a source familiar with the matter, suggesting that this is likely a separate probe.
The people targeted by federal investigators this week are among the closest to the mayor, both professionally and personally.
Pearson served in the NYPD with Adams for decades and is said to wield a great deal of influence; one former official described him to Politico last year as “without a doubt the most powerful person in City Hall besides the mayor himself.” Recently, he has been the center of controversy after facing a series of lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and retaliation against former subordinates. He was also under investigation by the city for an altercation last year in which he was accused of shoving a security guard at a migrant shelter.
Phil Banks may rival Pearson in terms of power. A former chief of the police department, he stepped down in 2014 after being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an NYPD corruption case. Adams nevertheless tapped him to be the deputy mayor for public safety, from which position he practically supervises the department. He, Terence, and schools chancellor David Banks are brothers.
Wright, who is engaged to David Banks, has served in the administration since its earliest days, working initially as the deputy mayor for strategic operations before being promoted to first deputy mayor in 2022. (It is unclear if David was targeted by investigators.)
“Investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation. As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has repeatedly made clear that all members of the team need to follow the law,” Lisa Zornberg, the mayor’s chief counsel, said in a statement.
Adams briefly commented on the news to reporters Thursday. “Whatever information that’s needed, we’re going to turn it over, and I’m going to continue to be the mayor of the City of New York,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Adams and his campaign committee were served with grand-jury subpoenas in connection with the federal government’s ongoing inquiry into his 2021 mayoral campaign and its ties to Turkey. Specifically, prosecutors are said to be looking into whether Adams’s campaign conspired with the Turkish government to direct illegal foreign donations into its coffers. They’re also reportedly investigating whether Adams, who has long boasted of his relationship with Turkey and the Turkish community, received free flight upgrades while traveling on Turkish Airlines.
That investigation first became public knowledge after the FBI raided the home of Brianna Suggs, a top fundraiser for Adams, last November. On the same day, agents raided the home of Rana Abbasova, another City Hall aide who worked in the mayor’s office on international affairs. (Abbasova is now cooperating with the authorities.) That same month, Adams himself was stopped on the street by FBI agents who had a search warrant for his electronic devices, which were seized and later returned to him.
A few months later in February, FBI agents also raided homes owned by Winnie Greco, Adams’s director of Asian affairs, as well as the New World Mall in Queens, where Greco hosted several campaign for Adams when she worked as a fundraiser for his mayoral campaign. Greco was temporarily put on leave but has since returned to work for City Hall.
The growing legal entanglements around Adams and his administration are destined to become a major point in the upcoming mayoral race. Scott Stringer, one of several Democrats running against him, criticized the mayor for the company he keeps.
“Eric Adams ran on curbing chaos and disorder, yet there is nothing more chaotic than a mayor distracted by his inner circle getting raided by the feds. You can’t clean up this city’s problems when your own house is a mess,” Stringer said.
Comptroller Brad Lander, who recently announced his own primary challenge against Adams, said on X, “Amidst an unending stream of stories about the Adams Administration being raided and investigated by federal law enforcement, it is clear that New Yorkers are not getting the steady leadership we deserve.”
