‘No indication’ NYC Mayor Adams is target of criminal probe after latest FBI raids, lawyer says
NEW YORK — An attorney for New York Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday there’s nothing to suggest he’s the “target” of any criminal probe in the wake of FBI raids at the homes of Winnie Greco, a top City Hall adviser.
“After last week’s event, we’ve had no outreach at all from law enforcement, and we have no indication that the mayor is a target of any pending investigation,” Lisa Zornberg, Adams’ chief counsel, told reporters during the mayor’s weekly press briefing.
Zornberg and Adams were otherwise reluctant to offer comment during the briefing about Greco, whose two Bronx homes were raided by FBI agents on Friday.
They declined to explain why Greco was just days before the raids added to a list of Adams administration officials who are considered “policymakers,” a development first reported by the news outlet The City.
The mayor also declined to say whether he regrets any of his hiring decisions, given that Greco is the third campaign or administration official in just the past few months to get their homes raided by the feds.
“I can’t answer that question,” the mayor said. “I’m not the reviewer. The reviewers can answer that. I follow one belief: Follow the law, that’s what I follow.”
The mayor did confirm Greco remains on paid sick leave from her post as his Asian Affairs director. Greco, a longtime aide and political fundraiser for Adams, went on leave after suffering a medical episode when the feds stormed into her homes shortly before dawn Friday, according to City Hall.
The exact focus of the investigation that prompted the Greco raids remains unknown. The investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
The raids came on the heels of reports that Greco helped host several fundraisers for Adams’ 2021 campaign that drew straw donor concerns from city regulators. The city Department of Investigation also launched a probe into Greco last year following reports that she had made a City Hall staffer renovate her kitchen for free while on the municipal government’s time.
In November, the FBI raided the homes of Brianna Suggs, Adams’ top political fundraiser, and City Hall aide Rana Abbasova as part of a separate investigation into whether the Turkish government pumped illegal foreign money into his 2021 campaign. After those raids, Abbasova was suspended, while Suggs got reassigned to a new, yet-to-be defined role on Adams’ reelection campaign.
While he hasn’t been publicly accused of any wrongdoing, the feds stopped Adams on the street in November and seized his cellphones as part of the Turkey probe, which is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.
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