Philip Banks III, Mayor Eric Adams’ deputy mayor for public safety and a longtime associate of the mayor, resigned Sunday night, weeks after his home was raided and phone seized by federal authorities investigating potential corruption in the Adams’ administration.

The exit from Adams’ team is one of several by top Adams’ advisors, including schools chancellor David Banks, who is Philip Banks’ brother, the chancellor’s wife, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and Police Commissioner Edward Caban. Another close aide to Adams and Philip Banks, senior advisor Tim Pearson, also stepped down.

This mass exodus is accelerating after the mayor was indicted on bribery and campaign finance fraud charges last month in one of four federal investigations and a simultaneous ongoing inquiry by the Manhattan District Attorney relating to campaign finance, city contracts and other potential wrongdoing.

Banks’ resignation, first reported by The New York Post, follows weeks of pressure by elected officials — including Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove the mayor — demanding that Adams clean house of close associates under investigation.

In an interview on NY1 early Monday, Adams confirmed Philip Banks’ departure.

“We spoke yesterday, we spoke again this morning, and he stated he wants to transition to other things with his life and he doesn’t want this to be a constant burden on the work that we’re doing in the city and I accepted his resignation…” the mayor said. “I wish my good friend well.”

Banks along with his brother David and sister-in-law Wright had their electronic devices seized by investigators in early morning visits to their homes on Sept. 4.

Controversial Tenure

From the start, Banks’ appointment to the top ranks of the Adams administration was controversial.

The namesake son of Philip Banks Jr., a cop whom Adams has described as a mentor, Philip Banks III joined the department as a street cop and rose steadily through the ranks to be Chief of Department, the highest ranking uniformed member of the department.

In 2014 that trajectory suddenly came to a halt. With rumors swirling that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio was considering making him commissioner, Banks suddenly resigned. The reason why surfaced soon after: he had been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal corruption investigation of the department.

Two Brooklyn businessmen, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, admitted they’d been paying bribes to a handful of mid- and top-level cops and one of Banks’ closest friends, the head of the corrections union, Norman Seabrook, for favorable treatment from the NYPD. Rechnitz, Reichberg and Seabrook were all convicted and sentenced to prison time.

In prosecuting Seabrook at trial, federal authorities painted a damning picture of Philip Banks III.

They documented that the corrupt duo had paid for expensive restaurant meals, sports tickets and junkets to Israel and the Dominican Republic for several cops, including Banks. They also found Banks had accepted a $20,000 gift from one of the businessmen disguised as “interest” on an investment, and alleged that Banks had $300,000 in unexplained cash he never reported to the IRS stashed in multiple bank accounts. On some days agents surveilling Banks observed him making deposits at multiple ATMs in different locations.

In exchange, the businessmen boasted about their access to the top ranks of the police department. At one point, they got Banks to store diamonds they were planning to sell inside a safe at One Police Plaza.

Banks was not charged and later claimed the cash was from poker winnings. He repeatedly denied doing anything in return for the perks he got from the corrupt duo, but his career within the NYPD was over.

By 2021 his friend, Eric Adams, apparently did not see any of this as an impediment to welcoming him into his new administration.

After Adams was elected and before he arrived at City Hall, Banks assisted Adams in vetting public safety–related appointments, including interviewing candidates for police commissioner. Then in January 2022, Adams rewarded him with one of his first appointments, naming him deputy mayor for public safety.

The vaguely defined job gave Banks free rein to intervene in the affairs of the NYPD, even though he had no formal oversight role of the nation’s biggest police department. He frequently met with top uniformed chiefs without former Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell present. He often promoted high-tech devices and software from metal detectors to drones to AI software aimed at solving crime that the department purchased.

And questions of conflict of interest surfaced recently when a security firm he owned between his departure from the NYPD and his arrival at Adams’ City Hall won a $154 million NYCHA contract and was placed on a pre-qualified list for no-bid MWBE contracts by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

The mayor’s communications office has stated Banks sold his interest in Overwatch in 2018, but records filed with the Department of State show Banks listed as a partner in the firm through June 2020.

Banks also emerged in a federal inquiry regarding a Florida-based tech firm, Saferwatch, hired his brother Terence to gain favor with him and his school chancellor brother, David Banks. The firm hired a lobbyist who met with both Philip and David Banks to pitch the company’s “panic button” app for the city school system. Soon after Saferwatch also hired Terence Banks, and the NYPD’s school safety office brought in Saferwatch for a pilot program at five schools with the intent of taking it citywide.

Despite all this, Adams has steadfastly voiced his support for Banks — in part due to his longstanding ties to the Banks family. His NYPD mentor Banks Jr. was longtime leader of 100 Black Men of New York at the same time Adams led the similarly named 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement.

The mayor recently noted his “long relationship that includes every member of the Banks family.” Questioned about whether he was considering removing Philip Banks III as deputy mayor, he brushed off the suggestion, stating, “I will continue to have a relationship with the Banks family.”