Tracking Charges and Investigations in Eric Adams’s Orbit

Mayor Eric Adams of New York has been charged with bribery and fraud in a federal corruption investigation, one of several reaching people in the mayor’s orbit.

His inner circle has been engulfed by the investigations, which have targeted the highest officials in city government, some of whom have recently resigned or left their post.

Eric Adams

Charged

Ingrid Lewis-Martin

Timothy Pearson

Resigned

Philip Banks&nbspIII

Resigned

David C. Banks

Resigning

Sheena Wright

Edward A. Caban

Resigned

Winnie Greco

Resigned

Brianna Suggs

Reassigned

Eric Ulrich

Charged

Rana Abbasova

Fired

Raul Pintos

Retiring

James Caban

Terence Banks

Thomas G. Donlon

Cenk Öcal

Reyhan Özgür

Dwayne Montgomery

Pleaded guilty

Queens precinct commander

Queens precinct commander

A five-count indictment against Mr. Adams details accusations of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations that prosecutors said began when he was a top elected official in Brooklyn and continued after he became mayor.

The indictment, which was unsealed in late September, follows an investigation that started in 2021 and has focused at least in part on whether he conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions and whether he took official actions on its behalf.

Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan — which is conducting three of four federal investigations, including the one in which Mr. Adams was charged — had declined to answer questions about the scope, and their full scope was unclear.

Mr. Adams, a Democrat who faces re-election next year, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and has insisted he was innocent: “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense.”

Others from whom information has been sought are not known to have been charged with a crime, and it is possible some of those targeted for searches are only witnesses. The city’s Department of Investigation is involved in the four inquiries.

Federal inquiry into Adams, his campaign and ties to several nations

Eric Adams

Mayor

Charged and official residence searched after devices seized and subpoenaed

Ingrid Lewis-Martin

Chief adviser to the mayor

Served a subpoena

Brianna Suggs

Former chief fund-raiser

Reassigned after home search and devices seizure

Rana Abbasova

Former aide

Fired after cooperating with inquiry, put on leave and home searched

Cenk Öcal

Former Turkish Airlines executive

Home searched

Reyhan Özgür

Former Turkish consul general in New York

Named in a subpoena

Arda Sayiner

Self-described brand adviser and influencer

Named in a subpoena

The investigation has led to charges against Mr. Adams but no one else. It was focused in part on whether Mr. Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with Turkey’s government to receive illegal foreign donations, and whether Mr. Adams pressured the Fire Department to approve a new high-rise Turkish consulate, despite safety concerns.

Prosecutors had also recently sought information related to interactions with five other countries — Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan — people with knowledge of the matter said. This focus had stemmed from a round of grand jury subpoenas issued in July to Mr. Adams, his office and his campaign. These subpoenas came after F.B.I. agents stopped Mr. Adams outside an event and seized his electronic devices in November 2023. In September, federal agents searched the official residence of Mr. Adams, hours before prosecutors announced the details of a federal indictment against him.

A day later, federal investigators in Manhattan served Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Eric Adams’s chief adviser and considered his second-in-command, with a grand jury subpoena, which sought information related to the investigation that produced the corruption charges against the mayor, said one person with knowledge of the matter. Her lawyer said she was “not the target of any case of which we are aware.”

Just days before the seizure of Mr. Adams’s devices in 2023, the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, Mr. Adams’s chief fund-raiser at the time, was searched by federal agents, as were the New Jersey homes of Rana Abbasova, an aide in the mayor’s international affairs office who previously was an Adams liaison to the Turkish community, and Cenk Öcal, a former Turkish Airlines executive who served on the mayor’s transition team. Weeks later, Mr. Adams said Ms. Suggs was no longer in that role. Ms. Abbasova, who had been on unpaid leave and cooperated with the investigation, was fired.

Investigators had also sought information about the former Turkish consul general in New York, Reyhan Özgür, whom Mr. Adams, during a flag-raising ceremony for Turkey in 2022, described as a “good friend” he had known for years.

Another person named in the July subpoenas was Arda Sayiner, a self-described brand adviser, influencer and journalist who does business in Turkey and whose website cites an interview he once conducted with Mr. Adams.

Federal inquiry into senior City Hall aides and associates

Timothy Pearson

Former senior adviser to the mayor

Resigned after phones seizure

Philip Banks&nbspIII

Former deputy mayor for public safety

Resigned after phone seizure

David C. Banks

Schools chancellor

Resigning after phones seizure

Sheena Wright

First deputy mayor

Phone seized

Terence Banks

Consultant

Home searched and phone seized

This investigation, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, appears to center on a possible bribery scheme involving a government-relations consulting company run by Terence Banks, a brother of Philip Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety before he resigned, and of David C. Banks, the schools chancellor. Terence Banks also helped raise funds for Mr. Adams’s 2021 campaign and was on his transition committee.

The investigation appears to be focused at least partly on city contracts issued under programs geared toward small companies owned by women and members of minority groups.

Federal agents seized the phones in early September of several top City Hall aides: the first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright; David Banks, her husband; Philip Banks; and Timothy Pearson, a senior adviser and one of the mayor’s closest confidants before he resigned weeks later. On Wednesday, City Hall said David Banks would step down as schools chancellor on Oct. 16, instead of at the end of December, as he originally said.

A lawyer for Terence Banks said he and his client had been “assured by the government” Mr. Banks was not the target of the investigation. A lawyer for Philip Banks said his client had done nothing wrong. David Banks has said he was cooperating with a federal inquiry, and that his lawyer had been informed Mr. Banks was “absolutely not a target in whatever this investigation is about.”

Federal inquiry into ex-police commissioner’s twin brother

Edward A. Caban

Former police commissioner

Resigned after phone seizure

Raul Pintos

Chief of staff under Caban

Retiring after commissioner resignation and phone seizure

James Caban

Former police officer

Phone seized

Queens precinct commander

Phone seized

Queens precinct commander

Phone seized

At the request of City Hall, Edward A. Caban resigned as police commissioner in September, just days after federal agents seized his phone and that of Raul Pintos, who served as chief of staff under Mr. Caban, and the commanders of two Queens precincts. Mr. Pintos is scheduled to retire in October.

This investigation, by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, appears to be focused on the dealings of Mr. Caban and his twin brother, James Caban, with nightclubs. A former police officer who was fired in 2001, James Caban also had his phone seized. Lawyers for Edward Caban have said prosecutors told them he was not a target of the investigation.

Other investigations and legal matters

Winnie Greco

Former senior adviser to the mayor

Resigned after multiple homes searched

Eric Ulrich

Former buildings commissioner

Charged with taking bribes

Ingrid Lewis-Martin

Chief adviser to the mayor

Home searched and phones seized

Thomas G. Donlon

Interim police commissioner

Homes searched and material seized

Dwayne Montgomery

Former police inspector

Pleaded guilty to conspiracy

Timothy Pearson

Former senior adviser to the mayor

Resigned

The fourth federal investigation, run by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, led to a search in February of homes owned by Winnie Greco, a senior adviser to Mr. Adams who was also his director of Asian affairs and a prominent campaign fund-raiser.

City officials said at the time Ms. Greco would be placed on unpaid leave during the inquiry, but she later returned to her job. An attorney for her said in October that she resigned. The prosecutors’ office declined to answer questions.

In addition, the interim police commissioner, Thomas G. Donlon — whom Mr. Adams had chosen to replace Mr. Caban — said in September that F.B.I. agents had searched his homes and seized material from them. According to two federal officials with knowledge of the matter, the materials were classified documents that had been in his possession for years, and the searches were not related to any of the four federal investigations.

Last year, Eric Ulrich, a one-time Department of Buildings commissioner appointed to the post by Mr. Adams, was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 16 felonies, including conspiracy and taking bribes. He had previously resigned after news of the investigation became public. According to court records, Mr. Ulrich has pleaded not guilty.

In late September, state investigators searched the Brooklyn home of Ms. Lewis-Martin and seized her phones in an investigation that apparently grew out of an inquiry by the Manhattan district attorney’s office that led to Mr. Ulrich’s indictment. Her lawyer said she was “not the target of any case of which we are aware.”

In February, a retired police inspector, Dwayne Montgomery, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor state charges in Manhattan, admitting that he had directed so-called straw donors — people who make campaign donations with someone else’s money — to contribute to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.

Mr. Pearson also faces several lawsuits involving sexual harassment accusations. A lawyer representing him denied wrongdoing on his behalf. Recently, two security guards, whom Mr. Pearson was seen physically attacking at a Midtown migrant shelter last fall, said that they planned to sue him and the city for false arrest and malicious prosecution. A lawyer representing him had not responded for comment.

Earlier this year, a woman sued Mr. Adams, accusing him of asking for oral sex in exchange for career help in 1993 and sexually assaulting her when she refused. Mr. Adams has denied assaulting the woman.