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      Investigators Search N.Y.P.D. School Safety Offices in Bribery Inquiry

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      The search, and the seizure of a police official’s phone, were part of a welter of federal investigations into Mayor Eric Adams and his inner circle.Federal agents searched the offices of the Police Department’s School Safety Division on Thursday as part of an inquiry into a possible bribery scheme involving city contracts, one of four federal investigations swirling around Mayor Eric Adams, people with knowledge of the matter said.The agents also seized the cellphone of the School Safety Division’s former commanding officer in actions related to a company called SaferWatch, which sells panic button systems to schools and police departments around the United States, the people said.The bribery investigation has focused on a consulting firm run by the brother of two top officials in the Adams administration who both resigned in the weeks after the mayor was indicted last month in a separate federal corruption investigation.Tracking Charges and Investigations in Eric Adams’s OrbitFive corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York. Here is a closer look at the charges against Mr. Adams and how people with ties to him are related to the inquiries.The consulting firm, the Pearl Alliance, counted SaferWatch among its clients. It was formed by Terence Banks, a retired subway supervisor, in 2022. At the time, his older brothers, Philip B. Banks III and David Banks, were the deputy mayor for public safety and schools chancellor, respectively, two of the highest-ranking officials in the mayor’s administration.In early September, federal agents and city investigators seized the phones of all three men, as well as the phones of other top administration officials — including Sheena Wright, the former first deputy mayor and wife of David Banks. Philip and David Banks and Ms. Wright all resigned in the weeks after the phone seizures.SaferWatch did not have a foothold in New York City contracting before 2023, city records show. The Police Department subsequently conducted a small $67,000 pilot program with SaferWatch and decided not to move forward with its service.A company spokesman could not be reached for comment on Thursday night. The search by federal agents was earlier reported by The New York Post.The actions on Thursday came a day after The New York Times reported on yet another investigation into members of the mayor’s inner circle — conducted by the office of the Manhattan district attorney and the city’s Department of Investigation.The bribery investigation concerning city contracts is being conducted by the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, the same office that indicted Mr. Adams on corruption charges, and the city’s Department of Investigation. Representatives of the two agencies declined to comment.The former commanding officer of the Police Department’s School Safety Division whose phone was seized on Thursday was placed on modified assignment, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.The inspector, Kevin L. Taylor, could not immediately be reached for comment. The leader of the union that represents him also could not be reached for comment.Representatives of the two agencies and the Police Department declined to comment. More

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      City Hall Official Charged With Witness Tampering in Adams Inquiry

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      Mohamed Bahi, who worked in the mayor’s office of community affairs, was accused of instructing witnesses to lie to federal authorities.F.B.I. agents on Tuesday morning arrested Mayor Eric Adams’s former senior chief liaison to the Muslim community on federal witness tampering and destruction of evidence charges that grew out of the investigation leading to the mayor’s indictment last month.The liaison, Mohamed Bahi, was charged in a criminal complaint in connection with unlawful contributions made to Mr. Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign, officials said.Mr. Bahi instructed witnesses to lie to federal authorities conducting the investigation, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.Mr. Bahi, who on Monday resigned from his position as senior chief liaison, was expected to appear in court later in the day.Tracking Charges and Investigations in Eric Adams’s OrbitFour federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York. Here is a closer look at the charges against Mr. Adams and how people with ties to him are related to the inquiries.This is a developing story and will be updated. More

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      City Investigators Seize Cash From New York Sheriff’s Office

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      The Department of Investigation is looking into whether Sheriff Anthony Miranda’s agency improperly took money from cannabis stores that it raided, closed and padlocked.City investigators seized cash on Thursday from safes at the New York City Sheriff’s Office, which has raided hundreds of illegal cannabis shops and confiscated millions of dollars in proceeds and merchandise, according to a spokeswoman for Mayor Eric Adams’s administration.The Department of Investigation is looking into whether the office improperly took money from stores that it had closed and padlocked, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss the case without authorization.The spokeswoman, Liz Garcia, said the agents had been called to the agency’s Queens headquarters at the request of Sheriff Anthony Miranda, who was appointed by Mr. Adams. She said that on Wednesday, Mr. Miranda had discovered money that apparently was not properly accounted for.“Sheriff Miranda learned of seemingly unvouchered cash held in safe boxes and self-reported the incident to his supervisors,” Ms. Garcia said in a statement Thursday evening. “His supervisors then reported this to the Department of Investigation. We expect every city employee to follow proper procedures.”The Department of Investigation also has also been looking into whether Mr. Miranda, a former police sergeant, or others acting on his behalf solicited money for a police fraternal organization from merchants in exchange for protection against raids, said two of the people, who are law enforcement officers.“There’s no factual basis to any of that nonsense,” Mr. Miranda said when reached by telephone Thursday night.Here Are the Charges Eric Adams Faces, AnnotatedThe Times annotated the indictment.Tracking Charges and Investigations in Eric Adams’s OrbitFour federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York. Here is a closer look at the charges against Mr. Adams and how people with ties to Mr. Adams are related to the inquiries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Timeline of the Lead-Up to Eric Adams’s Indictment

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      The charges against Mayor Eric Adams stem from a broad public corruption investigation that began in 2021 and examined whether the mayor and his campaign conspired with the Turkish government that year to receive illegal foreign donations.Additionally, the federal inquiry examined whether Mr. Adams pressured New York Fire Department officials to sign off on a new high-rise building for the Turkish consulate despite safety concerns. Agents also investigated valuable flight upgrades they believe the mayor received from Turkish Airlines.It’s one of several federal corruption investigations that have ensnared Mr. Adams’s administration. Here are some key events that led up to the indictment of the mayor:Nov. 2, 2023: The F.B.I. raids the home of the chief fund-raiser to Mayor Eric Adams.Federal agents raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, a recent college graduate who had been in charge of Mr. Adams’s fund-raising operation when he ran for mayor in 2021. Ms. Suggs was 23 years old when the mayor picked her for the job, and many Democratic officials who worked in fund-raising were shocked that he had chosen someone for the role with so little professional experience.The agents seized three iPhones and two laptop computers from Ms. Suggs’s home; they also took papers and other evidence, including something agents identified as a “manila folder labeled Eric Adams,” as well as seven “contribution card binders” and other materials, according to the search warrant documents.Nov. 2, 2023: The F.B.I. raids the homes of an aide in the mayor’s international affairs office and a former Turkish Airlines executive who served on his transition team.Investigators also searched the New Jersey homes of Rana Abbasova, an aide in Mr. Adams’s international affairs office, and Cenk Öcal, a former Turkish Airlines executive who served on his transition team, according to people familiar with the matter.Ms. Abbasova was the mayor’s longtime liaison to the Turkish community when Mr. Adams was Brooklyn borough president. Mr. Öcal was the general manager of the New York office of Turkish Airlines until early 2022.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What Happens if Eric Adams Resigns?

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      If Mayor Eric Adams were to resign, New York City’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, would become the acting mayor.Mr. Williams, a left-leaning Democrat from Brooklyn, has served as public advocate since winning a special election in 2019. He was re-elected to a full term in 2021 and ran unsuccessfully for governor the next year.Mr. Williams has been a fierce critic of Mr. Adams, assailing the mayor’s aggressive policing strategy and pushing to end solitary confinement in city jails. Mr. Williams has also cast doubts about the mayor’s ability to govern amid a swirl of federal investigations.Within three days of becoming mayor, Mr. Williams would name a date for a special election to pick a new mayor, according to the city’s charter. The nonpartisan election could be held within 90 days. The city’s relatively new ranked-choice voting system, in which voters can rank multiple candidates, would be used.No public advocate has become acting mayor before. Only two mayors have resigned — Jimmy Walker in 1932 and William O’Dwyer in 1950 — both after corruption scandals. The office of public advocate was created in 1993.Mr. Williams said recently that he was exhausted and angered by the troubling headlines about Mr. Adams and his administration, arguing that the municipal corruption scandals appeared to be “the worst since Tammany Hall.”“I’m not sure how you continue to govern with, every day, more corrupt arrests, more corrupt suspicions,” he said.Mr. Adams has insisted that he will not resign. The mayor recently told reporters that more than 700,000 people had voted for him in the 2021 election.“I was elected by the people of the city, and I’m going to fulfill my obligation to the people of this city,” he said.On Wednesday, after news of his indictment was made public, the mayor made it clear that his stance had not changed.“I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” Mr. Adams said in a statement. “If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.” More

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      After Just a Week, the N.Y.P.D. Commissioner Faces a Crisis of His Own

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      Thomas G. Donlon, brought in to bring stability to the Police Department when his predecessor resigned, had his homes searched by federal agents.In his first week as New York City’s interim police commissioner, Thomas G. Donlon responded to a police shooting that injured four people, including one of his own officers.He then had to prepare for the U.N. General Assembly, an annual logistical and security challenge that was compounded by deepening conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine.On Friday, trouble came for the commissioner himself: Federal agents arrived at the residences of Mr. Donlon, 71, a former F.B.I. counterterrorism official hired after his predecessor departed amid an investigation. They seized documents that he said had come into his possession about 20 years ago.According to two federal officials with knowledge of the matter, the materials that the agents sought were classified documents.For a department and a city roiled by report after report of search warrants, resignations, subpoenas and investigations by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, this latest development took a turn into the absurd.“At a certain point, we all would walk out of the movie theater because the script was just too fantastical, incredulous, and unbelievable for real-life,” Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, said in a social media post.Tracking Investigations in Eric Adams’s OrbitSeveral federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who faces re-election next year. Here is a closer look at how people with ties to Adams are related to the inquiries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Security Firm Linked to Top Adams Aide Won Millions in N.Y.C. Business

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      The company received a $154 million contract to provide “emergency fire watch services” to the New York City Housing Authority. The firm was once owned by the deputy mayor for public safety.Before Philip B. Banks III was named deputy mayor for public safety for New York City, the security company he once owned rarely did business with the city.But two years after Mayor Eric Adams appointed Mr. Banks to the high-ranking post in his administration, the company Mr. Banks said he had sold years earlier began receiving city business worth millions of dollars, according to records reviewed by The New York Times.The firm, City Safe Partners, received a $154 million contract from the New York City Housing Authority in January 2024 to provide “emergency fire watch services” in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, records show. Sheena Wright, the first deputy mayor in the Adams administration and the fiancée of Mr. Banks’s brother, the schools chancellor, sits on the housing authority’s board and voted to approve the emergency contract, records show.Mr. Banks’s business dealings have been under scrutiny at least since his phones were seized this month by federal agents investigating a possible bribery scheme involving city contracts. The phones of Mr. Banks’s brothers — David Banks, the schools chancellor, and Terence Banks, a consultant with clients who received city contracts — were also taken as part of the corruption inquiry.The investigation involving Philip Banks and his brothers is one of at least four separate federal inquiries focused on members of the Adams administration — inquiries that have rocked City Hall and raised questions about Mr. Adams’s political future. It was not clear whether City Safe Partners was a focus of any of the investigations.The company’s fortunes, however, seemed to have run in parallel with the political fortunes of Mr. Banks and another top Adams aide who was once briefly involved with the firm.Tracking Investigations in Eric Adams’s OrbitSeveral federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who faces re-election next year. Here is a closer look at how people with ties to Adams are related to the inquiries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why Eric Adams Is Resisting Pressure to Oust Members of His Inner Circle

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      Mayor Adams has been loyal to longtime aides despite growing calls for them to resign. It is a trait he has shown through his career.As Mayor Eric Adams has risen in New York City politics, he has remained extremely loyal to longtime allies, elevating them to key positions in his administration. Now those ties could contribute to his political downfall.As federal and city investigations swirl around several of the mayor’s closest aides, Mr. Adams has resisted growing calls to clean house, rejecting his advisers’ focus on an exit strategy for his close aide and friend, Timothy Pearson.Federal agents seized Mr. Pearson’s phone earlier this month. In four lawsuits, he was accused of sexually harassing female subordinates; the city Department of Investigation is also examining Mr. Pearson’s role in a physical confrontation with security guards at a migrant shelter, as well as the conduct detailed in the lawsuits.At least two senior administration officials said they were pressuring the Adams administration to fire Mr. Pearson, according to people who are familiar with the matter. The mayor’s refusal to consider doing so was a key factor in the abrupt departure of his counsel, Lisa Zornberg, over the weekend.Mr. Adams also faces pressure from advisers to dismiss Philip Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety, and Winnie Greco, the mayor’s Asian affairs director.Tracking Investigations in Eric Adams’s OrbitSeveral federal corruption inquiries have reached into the world of Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who faces re-election next year. Here is a closer look at how people with ties to Adams are related to the inquiries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More