More top aides to NYC mayor resign as federal investigations swirl

[October 08, 2024]  By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and KAREN MATTHEWS

NEW YORK (AP) — Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that he had accepted the resignation of his deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks, the latest senior official to leave as the mayor fends off an indictment and calls to step down.

Adams’ director of Asian affairs, Winnie Greco, also resigned and the city fired another former aide, Rana Abbasova, who previously served as the mayor’s liaison to the Turkish community, a spokesperson for City Hall said Monday evening.

Federal investigators have seized devices from all three officials — along with several other high-ranking city appointees — as part of apparently separate investigations that have engulfed the Democrat’s administration and prompted an exodus of top officials in recent weeks.

Adams said on TV station NY1 that Banks had told him Sunday that “he wants to transition to some other things” and “doesn’t want this to be a constant burden on the work that we’re doing in the city.” The mayor added, “I wish my good friend well.”

Banks’ resignation comes days after his brother, the city’s schools chancellor David Banks, announced he was stepping down months earlier than planned at the direction of the mayor.

Federal prosecutors have said they are pursuing “several related investigations” in addition to the case against the Adams, who was indicted late last month on charges of accepting illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals. He has pleaded not guilty.

In a separate probe, federal prosecutors are scrutinizing whether a consulting firm run by a third Banks brother, Terence, broke the law by leveraging his family connections to help private companies secure city contracts, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose information about the investigations.

All three Banks brothers have denied wrongdoing. An attorney for Philip Banks, Benjamin Brafman, said Monday that federal prosecutors had assured him his client was not a target of the investigation. He said prosecutors were initially scrutinizing “insignificant” Zelle payments between the brothers that were actually related to poker games.

Adams has rebuffed calls to resign, brushing off concern about his ability to govern as he mounts his legal defense and reshapes his administration. “I am confident when the true story gets out and not a one-sided version, New Yorkers are going to see that we can stay focused and get the job done,” he said Monday.

But he has faced mounting pressure to sever ties with those caught up in the investigations, including from Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove him from office. The city's police commissioner, Edward Caban, and a top mayoral advisor, Timothy Pearson, have also stepped down.

Adams appointed Philip Banks in 2022 as deputy for public safety, a role that gave him wide influence over the nation’s largest police and fire departments. Banks, a longtime friend of Adams, had previously served as the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed member, but resigned abruptly in 2014 after becoming ensnared in another corruption scandal that shook City Hall.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives to court in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Banks was not charged in that incident but was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. He later acknowledged that he accepted undisclosed gifts from two businessmen — including overseas travel, meals and cigars — who were convicted of bribing police officers and other officials.

Greco, meanwhile, had served as Adams’ conduit to the city’s Chinese American communities for close to a decade, organizing campaign fundraisers that brought in tens of thousands of dollars and traveling with Adams to China on multiple occasions when he was Brooklyn borough president.

She was hired as the city’s director of Asian American affairs soon after Adams took office, most recently earning a salary of $196,000 a year, records show.

In November, the city’s Department of Investigation opened a probe into Greco following a report in the local news outlet The City that raised questions about her political fundraising and whether she used her position in the administration to obtain personal benefits.

Then, this past February, federal agents searched two properties belonging to Greco, as well as the New World Mall, a popular Asian food court in Flushing, Queens. Campaign records show Adams held at least three fundraisers at a restaurant inside the mall, receiving dozens of donations that were $249 — the maximum amount that qualifies for the city’s generous matching funds program.

Adams’ alleged manipulation of the matching funds program is at the center of the federal charges brought against him last month. Among other things, the indictment accuses him of directing a different former aide to solicit campaign cash from Turkish nationals, which was then funneled to his campaign under the names of American citizens, allowing him to unlock public funds that provide an eight-to-one match for small dollar donations.

That former aide described in the indictment matches the description of Abbasova, who was put on leave in November 2023, when the federal probe first became public. A spokesperson for City Hall did not provide a reason for her termination Monday.

An attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, has accused the former aide of misleading prosecutors for her own benefit.

“They’re hiding that their key witness lied," Spiro said following Adams' arraignment. “The main lie is that Eric Adams knew about anything having to do with this."

An attorney for Greco did not immediately return a request for comment. A voicemail left at a phone number listed for Abbasova was not returned.

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