NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) officers have raided the homes of New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Edward Caban and other senior city officials in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, according to media reports.
The reason for the action against the top New York City officials was not immediately known and the FBI did not comment.
Shockwaves rippled across the political and economic elite of the US metropolis as news broke of the raids that occurred early Wednesday at the residences of Caban and New York deputy mayors Phil Banks and Sheena Wright.
Cellphones of the implicated officials were seized as well to aid in investigations, reports claim.
"I've been around a long time and that's never happened before," said CNN analyst and former NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism John Miller. "I would say that this is the first time in history that a sitting New York City Police Commissioner has been visited by his colleagues from federal law enforcement who have said, ‘hand over your electronic devices pursuant to a grand jury subpoena.’"
Mayor Adams’ office has distanced itself from the investigations, The New York Times reported.
"Investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation," Adams’ Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg said in a statement made available to the Times. "As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has repeatedly made clear that all members of the team need to follow the law."
At least two more figures in Adams' inner circle were also subjected to FBI scrutiny according to reports, with senior Adams aide Timothy Pearson and former Metropolitan Transport Authority official Terence Banks, the brother of the deputy mayor, also being searched.
Reports claimed deputy mayor Banks abruptly resigned as department chief of the NYPD in 2014 amid a federal bribery investigation in which agents allegedly uncovered evidence that he had accepted thousands of dollars in free meals and sports tickets.
Additionally, prior to this week the home of Brianna Suggs, the top fundraiser for Adams's mayoral campaign, was raided in November 2023. The FBI was reportedly investigating whether the campaign "conspired with the Turkish government and others to funnel money into its coffers".
The reports added that since Adams took office in January 2022 his campaign had ignored multiple requests from city regulators to disclose the identities of more than 500 supporters who provided $300,000 in contributions to his campaign.
The controversial mayor has raised eyebrows for appointing many of his close friends to top positions in the city.
In addition to Banks and Wright, Adams — himself a former New York police captain — hired longtime friend Lisa White as deputy commissioner for employee relations at the NYPD, with an annual salary of more than $241,000.
Adams’s administration has faced criticism on a variety of other issues, including the deaths of at least 26 prisoners due to changes he approved to the confinement policy at New York City penitentiaries.
Public complaints about the NYPD have also hit a decade high under Adams due to a rise in stop-and-frisk encounters and officers wearing patches on their vests with imagery allegedly tied to white supremacist groups.