Deputy of New York Mayor Eric Adams is the seventh senior official to resign;
New York First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright became at least the seventh senior official in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to resign as multiple federal corruption investigations have engulfed City Hall in recent weeks.
Wright’s resignation was expected to be announced later on Tuesday.
Her departure comes nearly two weeks after Adams was indicted on charges of accepting bribes and illegal donations to his election campaigns from foreign nationals, including Turkish citizens. Adams, a former New York City police captain, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
He is the first New York City mayor who faced criminal charges in office in more than 150 years. A poll released last week by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 69 percent of adult New Yorkers wanted Adams to step down.
Federal investigators raided the home that Wright shares with her husband, David Banks, the city’s school chancellor, and seized their electronic devices.
Banks has also announced his resignation, as has his brother, Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety. Edward Caban resigned as the city’s police commissioner last month after investigators seized his phone and other devices. Wright, Caban, and the Banks brothers have not been charged with crimes.
Federal prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn are pursuing at least four separate criminal investigations into corruption in the city’s administration, including the one in which the mayor has been involved.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan announced the indictment, opening a new tab of Mohamed Bahi on charges of witness tampering and destroying evidence in connection with the prosecutors’ investigation of illegal donations to the Adams campaign.
