NEW YORK– Embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that his deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks, has resigned, the latest in a series of government departures as the mayor fights federal charges.
Adams said on TV station NY1 that Banks, his longtime friend, told him on Sunday that “he wants to move on to other things in his life and doesn’t want this to be a constant burden on the work that we do. in the city.” The mayor added: “I have accepted his resignation.”
The dismissal was first reported in the New York Post.
It comes a month later Federal agents have seized devices from top city officials, including Banks, and from his brother, schools Chancellor David Banks, who also announced his resignation.
Federal prosecutors have said they are pursuing “several related investigations” in addition to the case against the mayor, who indicted late last month on charges of accepting illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreigners.
Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has rejected calls to resign. But he is confronted increasing pressure to clean house in his administration — including from Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove him from office.
Adams pushed back Monday against suggestions that he should resign. “I am confident that when the true story comes to light and not a one-sided version, New Yorkers will see that we can stay focused and get the job done,” he said.
In recent weeks, New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban and one of Adams’ closest associates, Timothy Pearson, have resigned. Their phones were also seized by federal investigators.
Prosecutors have not said why the officials’ phones were seized. No one but Adams has been charged with a crime.
On Thursday, Adams announced that David Banks would retire from running the school system on Oct. 16, not at the end of the calendar year as previously announced. In a statement, David Banks said he planned to continue serving through the end of the year “to implement a responsible transition for our workforce,” 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 investigating whether a consultancy run by Terence Banks broke the law by using his family ties to help private companies win 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 release 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 of Banks’ brothers have denied wrongdoing.
Adams named Philip Banks deputy for public safety in 2022, a role not seen in New York since the 1990s and which gave him major influence over the nation’s largest police and fire departments.
Banks previously served as the highest-ranking uniformed member of the NYPD before abruptly resigning in 2014 after becoming ensnared in another corruption scandal that rocked City Hall.
In that case, federal investigators were given permission to tap his phone amid questions about $300,000 going into his and his wife’s bank accounts. 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, foreign trips and meals — were improperly omitted from the disclosure forms.
In a guest essay announcing his return to public service under Adams, Banks expressed concern about the decade-old scandal and denied that he ever traded favors as a senior NYPD official.
“I have never broken the law nor have I ever betrayed the public trust by abusing my authority as an officer of the NYPD,” he wrote.