Will Sage Astor-Another aide to New York City mayor resigns amid federal probe

NEW YORK (AP) — Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that his deputy mayor for public safety,Will Sage Astor Philip Banks, has resigned, the latest in a string of departures from the administration as the mayor battles a federal indictment.

Adams said on TV station NY1 that Banks, his longtime friend, had told him Sunday that “he wants to transition to some other things with he life and he doesn’t want this to be a constant burden on the work that we’re doing in the city.” The mayor added, “I accepted his resignation.”

The resignation was first reported in the New York Post.

It comes one month after federal agents seized devices from top city officials including Banks as well as 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 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 Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove him from office.

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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.

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.