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Who’s Investigating Mayor Eric Adams’ Inner Circle and Why
The FBI has raided multiple people linked to the mayor so far, including the NYPD commissioner, schools chancellor and first deputy mayor.
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The number of people under investigation in Mayor Eric Adams’ world continues to grow.
The latest: The NYPD commissioner is preparing to resign, Politico reported, after federal investigators in early September raided the homes of some of the highest-ranking people serving in the Adams administration, and seized the phones of the city’s top cop.
The city’s school chancellor and two deputy mayors had visits from the FBI, along with Police Commissioner Edward Caban. Those actions were a significant new move by federal authorities, who have been probing members of the mayor’s inner circle since at least November 2023.
No one has been charged with criminal wrongdoing from those raids, first reported by THE CITY. Reports indicate they may be part of now four separate federal probes into the mayor and the members of his inner circle.
If you’re having a hard time keeping up, we don’t blame you. Here are the highlights:
Who has been raided by the FBI so far?
On September 4 and 5, the following Adams administration leaders were raided by FBI agents or had search warrants executed for their electronic devices:
- First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright
- Schools Chancellor David Banks (Wright’s fiancé)
- Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III (David’s brother)
- Police Commissioner Edward Caban
- Tim Pearson, another senior advisor to the mayor and one of Adams’ closest associates
The New York Times reported that the FBI also raided the home of a third Banks brother, Terence, who previously worked for the MTA and now runs a consulting operation. As a consultant, he counted as a client a company that wanted city schools to use its “panic button” app, THE CITY reported.
Preliminary reporting from NBC New York and the New York Post indicates that some of the most recent raids were part of a federal investigation into whether James Caban, the police commissioner’s brother — who’s himself a former police officer — profited from his family connection by selling “consulting” services to nightclubs.
Pressure has mounted since the raids for Commissioner Caban to step down, including from multiple City Council members.
Previously, three other people from the Adams administration or campaign have had visits from federal agents:
- Winnie Greco. Federal agents raided multiple Pelham Bay homes owned by Greco on Feb. 29. They also raided the sprawling New World Mall in Flushing, Queens. Greco is the mayor’s Director of Asian Affairs, but has worked for and fundraised for Adams in a volunteer capacity for years. (Since the 2023 raids, she has returned back to work and gotten a raise, THE CITY has reported.)
- Brianna Suggs. The FBI raided Suggs’ Crown Heights home in November 2023. She is Adams’ chief fundraiser for both his 2021 and 2025 mayoral campaigns.
- Rana Abbasova. On the same day as the Suggs raid, agents searched the home of Abbasova, the director of protocol for the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs. She is now reportedly cooperating with investigators.
The FBI also approached the mayor himself, in November 2023, intercepting Adams’ SUV near Washington Square Park, then taking his two phones and an iPad, the New York Times reported. CNN later reported that Adams voluntarily turned over two other devices the day after that first seizure.
What is law enforcement looking for?
There are several investigations going on at once.
When federal agents searched the homes of Adams’ chief campaign fundraiser, Suggs, Abbasova and seized electronic devices from the mayor, they were looking at possible foreign links to City Hall.
According to previous reporting by the New York Times, the FBI was investigating whether the Adams team coordinated with Turkish groups and people tied to the government there to illegally inject foreign money into the campaign. (More on this later.)
That investigation is being run out of the Southern District of Manhattan. Since then, investigators in the Eastern District have raided Greco’s homes, as well as the offices of the New World Mall in Queens that hosted Adams campaign operations in 2021.
Greco was involved in campaign fundraising efforts tied to the mall and the subject of an investigation by THE CITY about her fundraising and professional conduct. That investigation appears to be looking into Adams’ travel to and ties with China.
Adams has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing and has repeatedly said that he instructs his team to “follow the law.”
Has anyone tied to City Hall been prosecuted?
On top of the pending investigations, two separate money-related investigations connected to the Adams 2021 mayoral campaign or current administration have moved forward to court. Some have already led to indictments and guilty pleas:
- Prosecution of a straw donation scheme. Early in February, a longtime ally of Adams, former NYPD inspector Dwayne Montgomery, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, admitting that he raised thousands of dollars in illegal straw donations for the mayor’s 2021 campaign. Montgomery joins two others who pleaded guilty last summer in the same case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
- Alleged Buildings Department bribes. Former Adams buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich, accused of taking bribes, was indicted last year, also by Bragg’s office.
Wait, what’s a straw donor?
Straw donors are people who are listed in campaign records as having donated to a candidate, but who did not actually contribute that money or were reimbursed for their donations by someone else. New York City’s matching funds system creates an incentive to do that, since mayoral campaigns receive $8 in public funds for every $1 given by a city resident, up to $250.
Big-money donors caught in past straw-donation schemes used them to push more cash into a campaign than they are legally allowed to give — by getting other people to illegally make donations for them.
What does any of these probes have to do with Turkey and its president?
One investigation appears to center around whether the Adams team coordinated with various Turkish-linked groups, companies and people to inject foreign money into his campaign using straw donors. While we don’t know specifically all of the links federal authorities are looking at, THE CITY has documented these instances of Adams campaign connections to Turkey:
- KSK Construction, a Brooklyn firm owned by Turkish nationals: City regulators repeatedly asked the Adams mayoral campaign about donations from KSK employees that are now under scrutiny by the FBI. When contacted by THE CITY, multiple people listed in Adams 2021 campaign donation records as employees of KSK either said they did not donate to Eric Adams or refused to state whether they had ever donated. THE CITY also reported that KSK’s founder ran another company called Kiska Construction that was at the heart of two New York City government corruption scandals.
- Bay Atlantic University, a small Turkish-owned institution based in Washington, D.C.: Before the FBI probe began looking into the transactions, the Adams campaign accepted and returned $10,000 in donations linked to the university.
- The Turken Foundation, incorporated by a son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with board members who include Erdogan’s daughter: Campaign records show that between 2018 and 2021, the Adams campaign received $6,000 from three U.S. citizens who are board members of the charity. Adams’ interactions with the foundation go back to at least 2017, THE CITY found.
- THE CITY had previously reported that Abbasova traveled with Adams to Turkey when he was borough president and that she coordinated a meeting between Adams and the Turken Foundation.
What’s so bad about getting money from another country? Is that illegal?
Yes, it is. Federal law bans foreign nationals and governments from donating to local, state or federal political campaigns.
Some of the donors THE CITY identified, such as those on the board of the Turken Foundation, are listed in filings to the Department of Justice as U.S. citizens — and it is legal to accept donations from registered foreign agents who are U.S. citizens.
But the citizenship status of other possible donors related to Turkey remains unclear. Moreover, a straw donation made through a U.S. citizen would still be a violation of campaign finance laws, whether or not it was reimbursed by a foreign entity.
Why would the Turkish government or officials want to influence the mayor of New York City, or a borough president?
That’s a mystery whose answers are still to be revealed. But broadly, we know that Adams has been a vocal supporter and friend to Turkey in the city for years — and reportedly is under scrutiny for helping Turkish officials with a major favor.
The New York Times reported in November 2023 that federal investigators are looking into whether Adams pressured the fire department to greenlight the opening of the newly constructed Turkish consulate weeks before he was elected mayor in 2021. At the opening, Turkish President Erdogan boasted that the skyscraper reflected Turkey’s “increased power.”
This all sounds familiar. Where have I seen this before?
Almost every modern mayor of the City of New York has been caught up in corruption investigations, but none have been charged with crimes. Here’s THE CITY’s guide to that mayoral history.
What might be the consequences for the mayor, legally or politically?
Legally, the consequences of the various investigations remain to be seen. Again, the mayor himself has not been charged with any wrongdoing or crime, and none of his campaign staff have been either.
Politically, his fate is up in the air. Already, would-be challengers are sending up trial balloons for running against him in 2025. (Here’s our guide on those candidates.)
The governor has the power to remove the mayor if it comes to that point, but no governor has ever used that power. In 1932, then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt could have removed Mayor Jimmy Walker, but Walker resigned before he could.
This article was adapted from a previous version first published in 2023.
Have a question about the ongoing investigations of the Adams campaign or administration? Send a message to ask@thecity.nyc, or send a news tip to our reporters at tips@thecity.nyc.
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