Philip Banks III was among the mayor’s top aides who had their homes searched. NBC New York’s Melissa Russo reports.
Another top member of Mayor Eric Adams' administration has said goodbye to City Hall.
Philip Banks III, brother of recently ousted NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks, resigned his position of deputy mayor of public safety Sunday night, the mayor told NY1 on Monday. Adams said he spoke with Philip Banks Sunday and again Monday, when he accepted his resignation. He's now at least the sixth to leave City Hall in recent weeks.
Adams says Banks told him “he wants to transition and do some other things with his life” and told NY1 it was Banks’ decision to resign, saying Banks told him he didn't "want this to be a constant burden on the work that we're doing in the city.”
Adams says Banks told him, “I’m looking to move on and this is a good time to do so.” The mayor added "I wish my good friend well."
The resignation comes days after NBC New York reported First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright was expected to resign, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. As of Monday, that had yet to be official. She would become the next domino to fall as investigations swirl around the New York City mayor and members of his administration.
At this point, the continuing departures appear to be less of a sign of chaos and more about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul forcing Adams to bring stability to City Hall one week after the mayor pleaded not guilty to federal bribery and campaign fraud charges.
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Federal prosecutors have said they are pursuing “several related investigations” in addition to the case against the mayor, who was indicted late last month on charges of accepting illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals.
Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges and rebuffed calls to resign. But he is facing mounting pressure to clean house in his administration — including from Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove him from office.
Adams pushed back Monday against the suggestion that he should step down. “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.
In recent weeks, the New York Police Department’s commissioner, Edward Caban and one of Adams’ closest aides, Timothy Pearson, have stepped down. Their phones were also seized by federal investigators.
Prosecutors have not said why the officials’ phones were seized. No one beside Adams has been charged with a crime.
On Thursday, Adams announced that David Banks would cease running the schools system on Oct. 16, and not at the end of the calendar year as previously announced. In a statement, David Banks said he had planned to continue serving through the end of the year “to conduct a responsible transition for our staff,” but that Adams had “decided to accelerate that timeline.”
Federal agents have seized devices from both Philip and David Banks as well as a third brother, Terence Banks.
Prosecutors are also scrutinizing whether a consulting firm run by Terence Banks 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.
Adams has been a friend of the Banks brothers since the 1980s when the future mayor was a young police officer and their father, Philip Banks Jr., was a law enforcement mentor.
All three Banks brothers have denied wrongdoing. Benjamin Brafman, the attorney for Philip Banks, said Monday that federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office had assured him his client "was and is not a target of their investigation." He said prosecutors were initially scrutinizing “insignificant” Zelle payments between the brothers that were actually related to poker games.
The Justice Department's definition of a target is notoriously fluid. Prior to Adams' indictment, the city's top legal counsel, who has also since resigned, told reporters that the mayor did not appear to be a target of the investigation.
Adams appointed Philip Banks in 2022 as deputy for public safety, a role not seen in New York since the 1990s that gave him wide influence over the nation’s largest police and fire departments.
Banks had previously served as the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed member, before resigning abruptly in 2014 after becoming ensnared in another corruption scandal that rocked City Hall.
In that case, federal investigators obtained approval to wiretap his phone amid questions about $300,000 that wound up in bank accounts belonging to him and his wife. Two businessmen were later convicted of bribing police officers and other officials. Banks was not charged but was named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Banks said the gifts he received from the two men – including cigars, overseas travel and meals – were mistakenly omitted on disclosure forms.
In an guest essay announcing his return to public service under Adams, Banks addressed concern about the decade-old scandal, denying that he had ever traded favors as a senior NYPD official.
“I never broke the law, nor did I ever betray the public trust by abusing my authority as an NYPD official,” he wrote.
