Sheena Wright, New York City’s First Deputy Mayor, resigned on Tuesday, becoming the latest high-profile casualty in a massive federal corruption investigation that has rattled Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to its core.
The move, which was widely predicted, with one source stating last week that Wright was “being shown the door,” comes roughly a month after the feds raided her Harlem home with her husband, David Banks, the outgoing school’s chancellor, and seized their computer devices. Maria Torres-Springer, the city’s deputy mayor for housing, is likely primarily to succeed Wright, who has not been charged with a crime.
According to sources, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the authority to remove Adams but has not done so, has been urging Adams to clean house in the aftermath of his issues, resulting in the cluster of resignations and discreet firings.
She has also been working behind the scenes to fill the consequent positions. Among others who have left or are on their way out are Wright’s husband, David, who is likely to stand down in a couple of weeks, and Adams’ close friend Phil Banks, who resigned as deputy mayor on Sunday. According to reports, two contentious City Hall employees, Winnie Greco, a longtime Adams confidante, and Rana Abbasova, a significant figure in Adams’ criminal case, were both fired on Monday.
According to insiders, she was also reportedly upset about how her husband was fired months sooner than intended. Banks announced late last month that he would retire at the end of the year, just before news broke that a grand jury had indicted Adams on five counts of defrauding taxpayers of $10 million in matching campaign funds and accepting $123,000 in bribes in the form of travel perks from Turkish officials and nationals.
Following Hizzoner’s criminal charges, Banks and Wright married in Martha’s Vineyard, which many interpreted as a potential attempt to invoke “spousal privilege,” the ability of a married pair to refuse to testify against each other.
However, the longtime loves turned married couple didn’t have much time to celebrate their wedding, as Banks shortly discovered Adams was canned — that Melissa Aviles-Ramos would take over as schools head on October 16. The City Hall upheaval has left many wondering if Adams could keep his job.
Late last month, the Democratic mayor pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court to a series of explosive corruption charges alleging that he accepted improper gifts from Turkish officials and businesspeople, including $123,000 in free or heavily discounted hotels and flights dating back to his tenure as Brooklyn Borough President a decade ago. Federal prosecutors charged him with fraudulently obtaining $10 million in public campaign funding in the five-count indictment.
According to court documents, Adams exchanged favors, such as lobbying city authorities to expedite approvals for the Turkish Consulate in Manhattan. The mayor has subsequently declared his innocence, pleaded not guilty, and promised to fight the charges, which his celebrity attorney, Alex Spiro, has dubbed “the airline upgrade corruption case.” “This case isn’t even a real case,” Spiro stated.
