New York City deputy mayor Sheena Wright, a key ally of Mayor Eric Adams, has resigned—becoming the seventh senior official to leave the administration amid an ongoing corruption investigation into the mayor's campaign donations.
Wright, the city’s first deputy mayor, is expected to step down at the end of October and will be replaced by Maria Torres-Springer, Adams’s deputy mayor for housing, economic development, and workforce, the New York Times reported.
The news comes after the resignations of six high-ranking officials in the Adams administration, including Wright’s brother-in-law, Philip Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety, and her husband, David Banks, New York City’s school chancellor.
Federal authorities seized and searched the phones of all seven officials last month as part of a yearslong investigation into whether Mayor Adams's 2021 campaign illegally received donations from Turkey.
Indicted on September 25, Adams faces five charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Prosecutors allege that as Brooklyn borough president, Adams accepted bribes from Turkish nationals for over a decade, including illegal contributions and luxury travel benefits. The case also examines whether Adams pressured fire department officials to expedite the opening of a Turkish government-backed building in Manhattan despite safety concerns.
Wright played a crucial role in the Adams administration, first as the chair of the mayor’s transition committee, then as his deputy mayor for strategic initiatives, and finally as deputy mayor overseeing the municipal government’s daily operations.
Just days after Adams was indicted, Wright and Banks got married on Martha’s Vineyard. The marriage, planned long before news of the indictment broke, grants Wright and Banks spousal privilege, which allows them to decline testifying against each other if called to court, the Times reported.
Adams, the first mayor in the city’s history to be indicted while in office, has pleaded not guilty, calling the accusations against him "entirely false" and "based on lies."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D.), in a phone call to Adams after his five-count indictment was unsealed, pressured the mayor to "clean house" but stopped short of asking him to step down.
Around 63 percent of the city’s residents think Hochul should take steps to remove Adams from office, according to a Marist poll released Friday. The poll also found that 69 percent of New York City residents—including 71 percent of Democrats—say Adams should resign immediately.