What you should know
- The resignation of the first vice mayor, Sheena Wright, is imminent, two sources inform our sister network NBC New York, which would make her the latest political figure to resign amid the investigations surrounding Mayor Eric Adams and its administration.
- According to sources, the possible resignation of Wright, who is Adams’ right-hand man, would occur as soon as Friday night.
- Wright, who has been in office since January 2023, was one of several senior New York City officials, including the mayor himself, who had their phone seized as part of ongoing alleged corruption investigations.
- Wright shares that home with outgoing New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks. Banks recently announced retirement plans that would see him leave at the end of the year, but later said Adams accelerated the timeline. Now it will be out at the end of this month.
NEW YORK — The resignation of the first vice mayor, Sheena Wright, is imminent, two sources inform our sister network NBC New York, which would make her the latest political figure to resign amid the investigations surrounding to Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
According to sources, the possible resignation of Wright, who is Adams’s right-hand man, would occur as soon as Friday night, a few days after New York Governor Kathy Hochul indicated that there would be more changes, following the abrupt resignation of another senior adviser, Tim Pearson. Former New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban also resigned. The City Council’s main lawyer was the first to leave office.
The governor is pushing the mayor to bring stability to his administration. Wright could be replaced by Vice Mayor Maria Torres Springer, Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessie Tisch or Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack.
Wright, who has been in office since January 2023, was one of several senior New York City officials, including the mayor himself, who had their phone seized as part of ongoing alleged corruption investigations. His Harlem home was searched early last month and devices were seized while warrants were being executed there.
Wright shares that home with outgoing New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks. Banks recently announced retirement plans that would see him leave at the end of the year, but later said Adams accelerated the timeline. Now it will be out at the end of this month.
Banks married Wright over the weekend in a private ceremony in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He told television station Fox 5 on Wednesday that neither he nor Wright were “targets” of any investigation. He denied that they were married so he could invoke spousal privilege, a legal concept that protects communications between married couples and shields them from having to testify about anything that happens during their marriage.
“I think anyone who criticizes me has probably never been in love,” Banks told the station. “The reality is that Sheena and I have been together for quite some time. “We have been planning our marriage for a while.” Banks said that he and Wright were motivated to marry because of their parents’ age and health problems, “and any suggestion to the contrary to me is simply ridiculous on its face.”
Adams has vowed to remain in office after pleading not guilty last week to charges of accepting about $100,000 in international flights, hotel stays, free or deeply discounted meals and entertainment, and seeking illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests.
At a hearing Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten said prosecutors are conducting “several related investigations” and that more defendants are “likely” to be charged and that more charges are “possible.” against Adams.
The Justice Department defines a “target” of an investigation as someone against whom prosecutors or a grand jury have gathered substantial evidence linking the person to a crime, as opposed to a “subject,” someone whose conduct is simply within the scope of the investigation. scope of the investigation. investigation. Those definitions are fluid and can change as new information develops.
