The FBI on Wednesday raided the homes of two senior aides to New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.), escalating its yearlong probe into the alleged collusion between the mayor’s 2021 campaign and foreign interests.
Federal agents searched the Manhattan residence of Sheena Wright, the city’s first deputy mayor, and the Queens home of Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety, Politico reported Thursday. Wright and Banks are the highest-ranking officials in Adams’s administration to be targeted so far, with the homes of at least three other aides searched since last fall.
In spring 2023, the FBI began investigating whether Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign illegally received donations from Turkish sources in exchange for political favors, such as expediting the opening of a Turkish government-backed building in Manhattan.
Adams, who has long denied any wrongdoing, received a grand jury subpoena in July and had his electronic devices temporarily seized by investigators in November.
While the official motive behind the Thursday morning raids remains unclear, a source familiar with the probe said investigators are trying to flip someone close to Adams, according to the New York Post.
In late February authorities raided the Bronx home of Winnie Greco, Adams’s senior adviser and director of Asian affairs, and in November authorities searched the homes of his chief campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs and international affairs aide Rana Abbasova.