Staffers flee City Hall as Feds hand out more indictments

Yet another turbulent week has passed at City Hall, marked by resignations and indictments related to Mayor Eric Adams and alleged 2021 campaign fraud.

It was widely reported that Gov. Kathy Hochul decided to pressure Adams to “clean up City Hall” and let go of any administrators even peripherally related to the federal indictment cases rather than outright remove him from office. Rumor has it she’s avoiding seeing her old boss, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seize power as mayor in the vacuum that Adams would leave behind.

“I had a great conversation with the governor over the weekend,” said Adams in his latest press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 8. “She gave me some of her suggestions. We implemented some of her suggestions.”

As of Oct. 9, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, mayoral aide and Director of Asian Affairs Winnie Greco, Schools Chancellor David C. Banks, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks III, Public Safety Adviser Timothy Pearson, Mayoral Legal Counsel Lisa Zornberg, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan have all opted to resign from office; the majority of whom were longtime friends of Adams’s.

Adams has maintained that many left his administration because they wanted to do something different with their lives. “At the same time, people were saying, ‘Eric, I want to do other things in my life,’ like Banks, who I don’t think we really fully understand what he has brought,” said Adams about the departures. “And, you know, men and women leave government normally. And then they also leave government when they feel as though people are not treating them with the respect that they deserve.”

In addition to the resignations, top officials like Director of Protocol in the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs Rana Abbasova, special assistant Ahsan Chughtai, and Mohamed Bahi, a senior liaison in the Mayor’s community affairs unit, were all fired as prosecutors zero in on the illegal straw donor cases.

Bahi “resigned” on Oct. 7 and was arrested by feds the next day. He was charged with witness tampering and destruction of evidence in connection to the 2021 mayoral campaign. Bahi allegedly interfered with an active investigation by ordering third parties to lie to federal agents and deleting potentially incriminating correspondence from his personal phone and devices. He also allegedly participated in the 2021 straw donor scheme by making donations himself.

“As alleged, Mohamed Bahi obstructed a federal criminal investigation by instructing witnesses to lie and then destroying evidence,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement. “The charges unsealed today should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere with a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee. Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they may lead is unwavering.”

In short, time passed will not save anyone related to the corruption scandals from catching a charge as evidenced by the recent indictment of Erlene King, 71, on Oct. 2.

King served as the campaign treasurer for 2021 Brooklyn Borough President (BP) candidate and district leader Anthony Jones. She was charged with wire fraud in connection with her attempt to steal funds from the New York City Campaign Finance Board’s (CFB) public matching funds program, which is meant to ensure that candidates running for office in the city have a fair chance at raising enough small donor contributions.

For candidates who ran for BP in 2021, candidates received up to $8 in matching funds for each $1 of eligible contributions. Campaigns needed to raise at least $50,000 to be eligible for any matching funds and could then receive up to $400,000 from the city. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, King received fraudulent donations in a straw donor scheme using CashApp.

Again, Adams refused to resign from his position as mayor and carried on making new appointments to his cabinet as well as doling out the new crime statistics.

“First of all, when you look at it, I’m really blown away that we’re seeing all of these resignations. I have 300 hundred-something thousand employees. I have a ton of commissioners,” said Adams. “So I say to New Yorkers that are out there, look at what we have done since this investigation first was revealed to us and look at what we are continuing to do. And we’re going to do what I was elected to do. And that is to take our city into a place that those who have been betrayed by government will no longer be portrayed. This is the greatest city on the globe and I’m going to lead it in the right direction with the right team and with my fellow New Yorkers and organizations.”