Raids and resignations riddle City Hall: ‘I’m not going to be commenting on ongoing investigations,’ says mayor
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into the city’s top leaders is ramping up, leaving voters and electeds to ponder — equally out loud and in hushed whispers — the impact this will ultimately have on next year’s mayoral election.
The big question: Will Mayor Eric Adams, the second Black mayor to ever lead New York City, go down as a one-term like his historic predecessor, the late David Dinkins?
Thus far, more than a dozen people in the Adams administration and other city agencies have been thrust into the multiple investigations into City Hall, prompting resignations from city commissioners and staff, and subsequent indictments related to the FBI probe of Adams campaign finances. This includes city aides and their relatives: Timothy Pearson, Dwayne Montgomery, Philip Banks III, David C. Banks, Sheena Wright, Edward Caban, Winnie Greco, Brianna Suggs, Eric Ulrich, Rana Abbasova, James Caban, and Terence Banks.
“Our hallmark is not being distracted,” said Adams at Tuesday’s in-person press conference. “Stuff comes up in the city and we’re not going to be distracted. One of the distractions is answering the same question over and over and over and over again, like you’re going to get a different answer. I’m just not going to do that. I got a city to run.”
Since 2023, Adams and his administration has been under intense scrutiny from law enforcement, mostly because of alleged fraud in his 2021 mayoral campaign and a sexual assault case brought against him.
It began last July, when Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg indicted six people, including retired Deputy Inspector Dwayne Montgomery and a consulting company, for participating in a straw-donor scheme — meaning a person or entity illegally evades campaign finance contribution limits. These indictments really set the ball rolling and drew more attention to Adams campaign finances.
Before that, Adams had only been hit with New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) fines for accepting prohibited donations and failing to properly respond to requests for documentation in May 2023.
In June 2023, former NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, the first Black woman to head the agency, announced that she was stepping down with little warning. She was replaced by former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, the first Latino to head the department.
In September 2023, former New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) Eric Ulrich was charged for using his position to dole out favors in exchange for cash and other bribes, the Associated Press reported.
The legal situation ratcheted up to an 11 in November 2023, when the FBI suddenly raided the Brooklyn home of Adams’s chief election campaign fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs, while Adams was heading to a meeting with the White House about the migrant and asylum seeker influx. Suggs worked for Adams during his time as Brooklyn Borough president. As a teenager, she reported directly to her godmother, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a longtime Adams ally who currently serves as the mayor’s chief advisor.
Adams distanced himself from both cases, which were brought in state court and did not directly implicate his campaign or administration. He also had his electronic devices seized by the FBI but no charges were brought against him directly. He has still not been charged directly for any wrongdoing.
Because the FBI probe was left deliberately vague, the rumor mill swung to life. Adams was determined not to comment on the ongoing investigations, though, and has said repeatedly that he was cooperating completely.
The AP reports there were FBI subpoenas for Adams’s schedule, his overseas travel, and potential connections to the Turkish government. It’s assumed that this was to determine whether the Adams campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive donations from foreign sources, funneled through straw donors, but the FBI did not confirm. Other news outlets reported that the investigation was examining whether Adams tried to assist the Turkish government in getting city approval to open a Manhattan building for diplomatic facilities in 2021, despite concerns about the skyscraper’s fire safety systems, before he was mayor.
By February 2024, FBI had raided the Bronx homes of former director of Asian affairs and campaign fundraiser Winnie Greco, reported the AP. They once again seized Adams’s phones and iPad as well.
In June 2024, a former Brooklyn pastor, Bishop Lamor Whitehead, was indicted and sentenced to nine years for wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion, and making false statements to federal law enforcement agents. Whitehead had said Adams was a mentor and confidante, although Adams had very publicly distanced himself from Whitehead during the investigation.
This September, in rapid succession, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks, his brothers Schools Chancellor David Banks and political consultant Terence Banks; and mayoral adviser Timothy Pearson, who’s former NYPD, were all raided by the FBI.
FBI agents also seized devices from Caban, prompting his swift resignation from office. He has been criticized for moves made as he departed.
“New Yorkers need accountability and transparency from the NYPD because building public trust is the key to public safety,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Public Safety Committee Chair Yusef Salaam in a joint statement. “For outgoing Commissioner Caban to lessen penalties for police misconduct and abuses on his way out of office, amidst an ongoing federal investigation, is an alarming misuse of power. The Council enacted the creation of a disciplinary matrix with the NYPD to help ensure proper and standardized penalties for misconduct. Yet under this administration, we continue to see the erosion of accountability and safeguards designed to protect New Yorkers.”
Around the same time, retired FDNY Chiefs Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino were indicted by the FBI after a yearlong corruption investigation and City Hall’s legal counsel Lisa Zornberg, a former federal prosecutor, also abruptly resigned.
Zornberg reportedly was pushing for Pearson, whom the mayor has described as a “good friend,” to be fired. Pearson is currently facing multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexually harassing female employees, and is facing a separate investigation for his role in a physical fight at a shelter for homeless migrants, said the AP.
The ongoing FBI probe has definitely rattled support for Adams among the more progressive city officials and political clubs in the city, but many argued that some of his public safety and solitary confinement policies, flooding the streets with NYPD officers while cutting the city budget, his handling of the immigration crisis, and the “power grab” battle between him and City Council members is the real reason for that move.
“Raids, corruption allegations, and chaos have become hallmarks of the Adams administration,” said New York Working Families Party Co-Directors Jasmine Gripper and Ana María Archila in a joint statement. “Under Adams, the people of New York are sandwiched between a constant stream of budget cuts and FBI raids. New Yorkers need a mayor who can govern to make people’s lives better, not a mayor who’s fighting a laundry list of corruption allegations. Today’s news is the latest example of the Eric Adams administration’s questionable morals and values. We deserve better. We can do better.”
So far, two progressive Democrats — Brooklyn’s Senator Zelnor Myrie and Queen’s Senator Jessica Ramos — have announced plans to run against Adams in 2025 and have started campaigning.
“I think all of New York City is concerned about all of the allegations that we’ve seen about the FDNY, about the NYPD, across city agencies,” said Ramos, whose campaign slogan is riding on rooting out corruption. “When I started this race a few days ago, I talked about how people are losing faith in our institutions, losing faith in government — none of this helps. We need a path forward to show people that government can work, that government can do good for them.”
Ramos was spotted at this week’s post-Democratic National Convention (DNC) breakfast, held at Junior’s Cheesecake restaurant in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Adams has been noticeably absent from many national political events for Vice President Kamala Harris as she makes a bid for president, despite being a New York State delegate.
Ramos said that city aides, like Pearson and Banks, should have resigned as well as Caban. “The mayor should know better — to know who he’s vetting and hiring for such important posts.”
However, while deeply concerned about the legal matters, not everyone has rushed to drop Adams.
At the post-DNC breakfast, many attendees said that they are withholding judgment of Adams until he is officially charged. This, said sources, is mostly because of his upbringing as a native New Yorker and the city’s second Black mayor. No one, particularly in Brooklyn among Black and Brown voters, wants to see another Black man whom they view as one of their own embroiled in scandal or leave office after one term. However, many declined to speak on the record about their feelings about Adams or have actively distanced themselves from him and City Hall.
“You know, every mayor I have communicated with says that there are moments of crisis in an administration. I think that when you do a reflection, you’re going to see that I am the person that I stated I am,” Adams said. “My North Star is improving the city that I love, that I wore that bulletproof vest for 22 years [for].”
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