FBI raids top officials close to NYC Mayor Eric Adams: Reports

FBI agents conducted searches of the homes of New York City’s police commissioner and at least three top deputies to Mayor Eric Adams (D), multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The FBI seized electronic devices on Wednesday from the homes of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety and Timothy Pearson, a mayoral adviser and former official with the New York Police Department (NYPD), two people told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban’s devices were also seized, the AP reported, citing one of the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Caban, a veteran of the NYPD, was appointed police commissioner by Adams last summer.

Lisa Zornberg, City Hall’s chief counsel, told The Hill 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,” Zornberg wrote.

Adams denied any wrongdoing, telling Fox 5 New York TV on Thursday, “I have been clear that my message throughout my public life is to follow the law.”

He said his office will “comply with whatever inquiry and whatever we have to submit,” Fox 5 New York said.

The Hill reached out to the FBI for further comment.

The NYPD said in a statement to The Hill that it was aware of and cooperating with an investigation involving members of its service but did not expand on the details of any probe.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined The Hill’s request for comment.

The searches come after Adams had his home raided by the FBI in February as part of an investigation conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

His associates’ homes were searched months earlier as part of a federal corruption probe centered on the mayor’s 2021 election campaign, which allegedly conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.  

Federal agents seized Adams’s phones and iPad as he left an event in Manhattan last November, and he, his campaign arm and City Hall later received federal subpoenas earlier this summer.

A source familiar with the matter told The Hill this week’s raids did not appear to be related to the Turkey investigation.

This week’s searches, however, are the latest instance of federal scrutiny of Adams’ circle. Adams took office as mayor in 2022 after serving as Brooklyn’s borough president and state senator.

Pearson, who was among those searched in the latest raid, faces multiple sexual harassment lawsuits along with a separate probe into his role in a brawl at a shelter for homeless migrants, per the AP. His lawyer did not immediately respond to the news wire’s request for comment.

Wright, the first deputy mayor, lives with her partner, David Banks, the city’s schools chancellor and brother of Philip and Terence Banks, the AP reported. Philip and Terence, a consultant, both had their homes searched this week, a lawyer for Philip told the news wire.

News outlet The City first reported the searches of Wright’s and Philip Banks’ homes.

The Associated Press contributed. Updated Sept. 6 at 11:25 a.m.