NEW YORK — Federal authorities honed in on the upper echelons of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration this week, executing raids on several top city officials and seizing the cellphones of at least one other senior adviser.
Law enforcement agents raided the Manhattan home shared by Sheena Wright, the city’s first deputy mayor, and her romantic partner, Schools Chancellor David Banks, as well as the Queens home of the deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks, five people with knowledge of the situation told POLITICO.
Agents also searched NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban’s home, and Tim Pearson — a senior adviser to Adams and one of his closest confidants — was subpoenaed for his cellphones, according to reporting in the New York Post and the Daily News.
David and Phil Banks are brothers.
Another brother, government relations firm founder Terry Banks, is also being investigated, The New YorkTimes reported. And at least seven other members of the NYPD had their phones subpoenaed, according to reporting by ABC 7.
The sweeping federal actions mark yet another law enforcement inquiry into the mayor’s orbit, the full scope of which is not yet clear. Since November, federal investigators have been probing Adams’ ties to Turkey and have undertaken what appears to be a separate investigation into his aide Winnie Greco. Whether those investigations are tied directly to the recently executed search warrants also remains unclear.