FBI brokers raided the houses of two high aides to Mayor Eric Adams — Phil Banks and Sheena Wright — early Wednesday, law-enforcement sources confirmed.
The raids — first reported by THE CITY — unfolded concurrently about 5 a.m. at Wright’s elegant West 143rd Avenue house in Harlem and Banks’ Queens house, in line with the sources.
An FBI spokesperson declined to remark to The Publish on Thursday however didn’t deny that federal brokers visited each addresses.
The legislation enforcement motion marks a jaw-dropping escalation within the federal probe circling the mayor’s 2021 marketing campaign.
The raids’ exact function remained unclear Thursday, however a supply with information of the probe mentioned investigators have been attempting to flip somebody near Adams, who has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Wright, as the town’s first deputy mayor, is the closest Adams aide to have her house raided by the feds. Banks, a longtime Adams ally, serves as his deputy mayor for public security.
Adams has now seen federal brokers search the properties of 5 allies, together with his high marketing campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs amid allegations of a kickback scheme involving Metropolis Corridor and the Turkish authorities.
Hizzoner himself was slapped with grand jury subpoena, as have been Metropolis Corridor and his marketing campaign, in July by federal prosecutors digging into his 2021 election fundraising. He additionally had his digital units seized as a part of the investigation.
Adams has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Wright has been in a longtime relationship with Faculties Chancellor David Banks, they usually have been rumored to have married in secret final 12 months.
Banks is the brother of Phil Banks, who himself was named by the feds as an unindicted co-conspirator in a sweeping federal police corruption case years in the past.
David Banks, when noticed Thursday, leaving the Harlem house he shares with Wright by The Publish, dodged questions the raid.
— Further reporting by Ben Kochman and Haley Brown
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