NYC First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright Resigns – Telemundo New York (47)

NEW YORK – New York City’s first vice mayor, Sheena Wright, is resigning, becoming the latest political figure to quit amid investigations into Mayor Eric Adams and his administration according to sources disclosed to our sister network NBC 4.

Sheena Wright is one of several high-ranking officials whose homes have been searched and phones seized as part of ongoing federal investigations.

The first deputy mayor was expected to leave City Hall last week, but was officially resigned on Tuesday morning. Wright, who has been in office since January 2023, was among several senior New York City officials, including the mayor himself, whose phone was hacked as part of of the ongoing studies. His home in Harlem was searched (and tools were seized while warrants were executed there) early last month.

Wright shares that home with New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks. Banks recently announced retirement plans that would see him leave at the end of the year, but Adams later said Adams would speed up the timeline. He will now leave in mid-October.

Wright has denied wrongdoing, but he also faces questions over a vote to award a city contract to his brother-in-law’s former security firm.

The appointment of Wright, Adams’ right-hand man, comes a week after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that there would be more changes after the sudden resignation of another top assistant, Tim Pearson. Former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban also resigned. The City Council’s chief legal adviser was the first to leave the post.

A source close to Adams told NBC New York that there are three main candidates as possible replacements for Wright: Maria Torres-Springer, who is currently the deputy mayor for housing, economic development and employees; Jessie Tisch, the current Commissioner of Sanitation; and Camille Joseph Varlack, Mayor Adams’ current chief of staff.

Banks and Wright were married on the last weekend of September in a private ceremony in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. On Wednesday, the man told Fox 5 television that neither he nor Wright were “targets” of any investigation. He denied they were married so he could invoke spousal privilege, a legal concept that protects communications between married couples and protects them from testifying about anything that happens. during their marriage.

“I think anyone who criticizes me has probably never been in love,” Banks told the station. “The truth is, Sheena and I have been together for a long time.” We’ve been planning our wedding for a while.” Banks said he and Wright were motivated to get married because of their parents’ age and health issues, “and to suggest otherwise is just silly on its face.”

Even though polls show more than two-thirds of New Yorkers want him to resign, Adams vowed to stay in office after pleading not guilty last week. for allegations that he accepted approximately $100,000 in free or discounted international flights, hotel accommodations, meals and entertainment, and solicitation of illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests .

If Adams does not resign, 63% of New Yorkers would want Hochul to take steps to remove him, the poll found. In response to the Marist poll, the mayor said Friday that voters will be convinced when they hear his side of the story.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Assistant US Attorney Hagan Scotten said prosecutors are conducting “several related investigations” and that more defendants are “likely” to be charged and more charges are “possible “.

The Justice Department defines the “target” of an investigation as a person against whom prosecutors or a grand jury have collected substantial evidence linking the person to a crime, as opposed to a “subject,” someone whose vertical behavior is within the scope of the study. . research. These definitions are fluid and may change as new information becomes available.