Feds investigations into NYC Mayor Eric Adams admin stem from shady appointees: critics

Poor management and putting pals into the upper echelons of his administration are key reasons Mayor Adams is now mired in scandal, critics charged.“You have two brothers, a functional wife, and a best friend, who are in these positions of being deputy mayors or senior advisers,” said John Kaehny, executive director of the good government group Reinvent Albany said of Adams.“They ran out of red flags down at the hardware store because they were using them up on this.”Among those with top jobs and alleged influence under Adams: the Banks brothers, outgoing-Schools Chancellor David and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip, whose father was one of Hizzoner’s lieutenants and a mentor during his NYPD days.David Banks’ girlfriend, Sheena Wright, landed a job as first deputy mayor, while Adams’ own girlfriend, Tracey Collins, has a plush $221,000 a year gig as a senior advisor in the city Department of Education.The appointment of Philip Banks was especially concerning, said Kaehny, who noted he retired in 2014 as NYPD chief of department amid a sprawling federal probe into police corruption, where he was named an unindicted co-conspirator.

This likely put Banks on the authorities’ radar the moment he was tapped for his post, Kaehny said.NYPD inspector and close Adams associate Tim Pearson, a top aide who has overseen lucrative migrant security contracts, was another concerning appointment, according to Kaehny.“At the very, very beginning, Adams was in conflict with the Conflict of Interest Board over Pearson, who was taking two salaries, [including] one from a casino” that was looking for government approval to expand its operations, he said.David and Philip Banks, Pearson and Wright have had their phones and electronics seized by the feds, who are probing whether they’ve had any hand in steering city contracts to benefit themselves or family members, sources have told The Post.

None have been accused of wrongdoing. One Adams insider said the T...