Feds raid homes of NYC mayor's top aides, including the city's police commissioner

Federal agents have raided the homes of top aides and confidants to New York Mayor Eric Adams, including the city’s police commissioner, in what appeared to be a major corruption probe at the heart of America’s biggest city.

In addition to NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, the raids on Wednesday and Thursday targeted the city’s deputy mayor for criminal justice, Philip Banks III, his brother, schools Chancellor David Banks, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and a third Banks brother, Terrence Banks, who is not a city official, local media reported.

"Investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation," Lisa Zornberg, the mayor’s chief counsel, said in a statement. "As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has repeatedly made clear that all members of the team need to follow the law."

As he left City Hall in lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, Adams, a former police captain, told reporters, “The goal is to follow the law and that is what this administration always stood for and what we’re going to continue to stand for.”

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The search warrants at the homes of the deputy mayors and the schools chancellor were first reported by the nonprofit news outlet The City. The seizure by federal agents of the police commissioner’s phones was first reported by Spectrum News NY1.

While New York, like most big cities, has had its share of scandals, the search warrant on Police Commissioner Caban, by investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, was striking.

“It’s unprecedented for a commissioner to even be mentioned in the context of a federal criminal investigation,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic political consultant. While other police commissioners oversaw the NYPD during federal probes of the department’s practices, and of individual officers, “not one of them had a federal search warrant served on them,” Sheinkopf said.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment, as did the FBI.

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Adams is known for keeping a tight circle of friends and confidants, many of whom date back to his days in the police department.

Deputy Mayor Philip Banks is a former top NYPD official who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an earlier federal bribery probe. His brother, schools Chancellor David Banks, is the romantic partner of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.

Adams adviser Timothy Pearson, who was also reportedly served with a search warrant, is a former police inspector. Pearson and Terrence Banks could not be reached for comment.

This week’s raids were unrelated to an ongoing federal investigation into possible illegal Turkish financing of Mayor Adams’ 2021 campaign, a source familiar with that probe said. The FBI seized Adams’ mobile phones and computer in November 2023, and searched the home of his campaign treasurer.

“The FBI is more engaged in municipal corruption cases around this country than it has ever been,” Sheinkopf said. “You know, those 5:30AM wakeup calls don’t come out of thin air.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Federal agents raid the homes of top aides to NYC Mayor Eric Adams