FBI agents target homes of top Mayor Adams deputies Sheena Wright, Phil Banks
Published in News & Features
NEW YORK — FBI agents showed up at the homes of New York City First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks early Wednesday and took electronics from at least one of them, the Daily News has learned.
The agents arrived at Wright’s home on 143rd St. in Harlem before dawn, according to three sources familiar with the matter, two of whom said they confiscated her electronics.
It’s unclear when agents showed up at Banks’ home in Queens, but Benjamin Brafman, a high-profile white collar crime defense attorney who used to represent the deputy mayor, confirmed to The News that the feds were there Wednesday.
“I was made aware after the fact. I don’t believe he was interviewed,” said Brafman, who represented Banks, a former NYPD chief, when he was ensnared in a federal corruption investigation in the mid-2010s that ultimately never produced charges against him.
Brafman said he doesn’t know whether electronics were seized from Banks.
It wasn’t immediately clear what investigation prompted the actions at the homes of Banks and Wright, who are among Mayor Eric Adams’ most senior-ranking and longest-serving advisers. They haven’t been accused of wrongdoing.
Banks and Wright couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, and spokespeople for the mayor’s office didn’t immediately return requests for comment. A lawyer for the mayor’s 2021 campaign did not return a request for comment.
The FBI declined to comment.
Wright shares her Harlem home with her partner David Banks, the city’s schools chancellor who’s also the older brother of Philip Banks. There’s no indication David Banks was the target of the law enforcement activity.
David Banks was supposed to go on a television appearance at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, but canceled on short notice without explanation.
As of late afternoon Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said the electronics had not been returned to Wright, who led Adams’ 2021 transition committee after his election.
The FBI visits at the homes of Wright and Philip Banks come as the mayor and several of his associates remain dogged by federal investigations.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is investigating allegations that the Turkish government funneled illegal donations into Adams’ 2021 campaign.
As part of that inquiry, FBI agents last November raided the homes of Brianna Suggs, Adams’ longtime political fundraising chief, and Rana Abbasova, an aide to the mayor who for years served as his liaison to local Turkish communities. Days after the Suggs and Abbasova searches, the feds stopped the mayor in the street and seized his electronics, including two cell phones.
The mayor hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing.
The Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, meanwhile, has been leading a separate investigation that prompted FBI agents in February to raid two Bronx homes owned by Winnie Greco, an adviser and fundraiser for the mayor who serves as his City Hall liaison to local Asian communities. That investigation has reportedly focused at least in part on fundraisers Greco co-hosted for Adams’ 2021 campaign that drew donations from individuals who claim they were illegally reimbursed for their contributions.
Wright did not play an official role in the mayor’s 2021 campaign, though she tried donating $1,450 to it, $1,000 of which was returned due to restrictions on how much individuals doing business with the city government can give to local political candidates. Before entering public service, Wright served as the president and CEO of United Way, a social services non-profit that receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funding annually.
After his election, Adams tapped Wright to chair his 2021 transition committee, the vehicle that raised money for his inauguration and prepared for him to take office in early 2022. Her partner, Chancellor Banks, is a longtime friend of the mayor who played a part in his 2021 campaign.
Philip Banks, who wields tremendous power over the city’s law enforcement apparatus as deputy mayor for public safety, used to serve with Adams in the NYPD for years.
With Molly Crane-Newman and Cayla Bamberger
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