What We Know About the Investigations Involving Eric Adams’s Top Aides

New York|What We Know About the Investigations Involving Eric Adams’s Top Aides

When federal agents seized the phones of some of New York City’s highest-ranking officials this week, the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, already reeling from other legal problems, was further destabilized.

The agents took the phones of the city’s police commissioner, the first deputy mayor, the schools chancellor and others. They also searched the home and seized the phone of a consultant who is a brother of the schools chancellor and one of Mr. Adams’s deputy mayors.

The actions were separate from the corruption inquiry that has been focused at least in part on whether the mayor and his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal donations.

Here is what we know about the searches and phone seizures this week and the investigations.

Which officials are now embroiled in federal investigations?

The latest round of searches, seizures and subpoenas focused on five people in Mr. Adams’s orbit. Neither the mayor nor those people have been accused of a crime.

On Wednesday, agents seized the phones of the first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright, and her partner, David C. Banks, the schools chancellor. Mr. Banks’s brother, Philip Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety, also received a visit from agents who seized his phones, as did Timothy Pearson, a senior adviser to Mr. Adams and one of his closest confidants.

The investigators also searched the home of a consultant, Terence Banks, a third Banks brother who formed a government and community relations company to close a gap “between New York’s intricate infrastructure and political landscape.”