Federal agents on Wednesday searched the homes of three top city officials close to Mayor Eric Adams, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The searches occurred at the Queens home of the deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks III, and a home in Harlem shared by the first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright, and her partner, Schools Chancellor David C. Banks, the people said. It was unclear if the search of the home shared by the chancellor and the first deputy mayor targeted one of them or both.
The searches were unrelated to the federal corruption inquiry focused on the mayor and his campaign fund-raising, the people said, but appeared to further entangle the Adams administration in a morass of criminal inquiries.
Neither Ms. Wright, 54, Mr. Banks, 61, nor Chancellor Banks, 62, immediately responded to requests for comment. A spokesman for City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The search of the schools chancellor’s home took place at a busy time for him — on the day before the first day of school in New York City.
Spotted carrying a purple folder into his home on Thursday morning, Chancellor Banks appeared confused by the presence of reporters milling about.
As he punched in a code on a panel above the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder, and asked, “What, was there a shooting or something?”
The new investigation, which was first reported by The City, is being conducted by prosecutors from the office of the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is separately investigating the mayor and his campaign fund-raising.
A representative of the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.
The full scope of that investigation also remains unclear. But it has focused at least in part on whether Mr. Adams and his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to collect illegal foreign donations and whether Mr. Adams, in return, pressured the Fire Department to sign off on a new high-rise Turkish Consulate, despite safety concerns. It has also looked at free flight upgrades Mr. Adams received from Turkish Airlines.
Mr. Adams has consistently denied wrongdoing, and the federal authorities have not accused him of any crimes.
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