A posse of FBI agents early Wednesday raided the homes of two of the highest ranking members of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III, sources familiar with the situation told THE CITY.
Agents showed up around 5 a.m. at the Hamilton Heights townhouse of Wright, while simultaneously descending upon Banks’ brick and clapboard single family in Hollis, a source said.
Wright is the fiancé of David Banks, who is Phil Banks’ brother and was appointed schools chancellor by Adams. The chancellor was seen by THE CITY entering and leaving the Hamilton Heights townhouse twice on Thursday. Asked about the raid, David Banks declined to comment, saying, “Today is the first day of school, and I am thrilled,” he said, jumping into a SUV to head to a scheduled appearance at a school in Queens.
The purpose of the raids is not clear, but the source said the cell phones and laptop of Wright and Banks were taken. The FBI raids follow others the bureau has performed on Adams and top advisors.
Early Thursday an FBI spokesperson declined to comment but did not deny that the bureau showed up at Wright’s and Phil Banks’ home addresses.
Last November, the FBI seized Adams’ cell phones and laptop and raided the home of his campaign treasurer, Brianna Suggs, in a probe by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney into whether the campaign conspired to obtain illegal foreign donations from entities tied to the Turkish government.
Records document fundraisers bundled by entities with ties to Turkey — Bay Atlantic University, which raised $10,000 via five donations of $2,000 each, and KSK Construction Group, which raised $12,700 from multiple donors. Both were referenced in a search warrant seeking campaign records from Suggs, according to the New York Times.
And in February the FBI raided two Bronx homes owned by a top Adams aide, Winnie Greco, and the New World Mall in Flushing, Queens, as part of a probe by the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney. Greco had hosted multiple fundraisers for Adams and holds a position in the mayor’s office as an advisor. The Campaign Finance Board in a recently released draft audit of Adams’ 2021 campaign labeled the entity tied to the mall, J Mart Group, as a suspected intermediary that raised nearly $12,700 for the mayor’s campaign.
Wright was a former top executive of the United Way when Adams made her one of his first appointments in January 2022. Phil Banks is a former cop and close ally of the mayor, appointed by Adams despite his being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an NYPD bribery scandal.
