By Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright became at least the seventh senior official in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to resign as multiple federal corruption investigations have engulfed City Hall in recent weeks, local media reported on Tuesday.
Wright’s resignation was expected to be announced later on Tuesday, according to the New York Times and other local media, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Her departure comes nearly two weeks after Adams was indicted on charges of accepting bribes and illegal donations to his election campaigns from foreign nationals, including Turkish citizens. Adams, a former New York City police captain, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
He is the first New York City mayor to face criminal charges while in office in more than 150 years. Adams has since rebuffed a chorus of calls that he resign before his four-year term ends next year, even as many of his closest allies have stepped down from the jobs to which he appointed them. A poll released last week by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 69 percent of adult New Yorkers wanted Adams to step down.
Last month, federal investigators raided the home Wright shares with her husband, David Banks, the city’s schools chancellor, and seized their electronic devices.
Banks has also announced his resignation, as has his brother, Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety. Edward Caban resigned as the city’s police commissioner last month after investigators seized his phone and other devices. Wright, Caban and the Banks brothers have not been charged with crimes.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Federal prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn are pursuing at least four separate criminal investigations into corruption in the city’s administration, including the one in which the mayor was indicted.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan announced the indictment of Mohamed Bahi on charges of witness tampering and destroying evidence in connection with the prosecutors’ investigation of illegal donations to the Adams campaign.
Bahi resigned from his role as Adams’ liaison to the Turkish community on Monday, The City news outlet reported. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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