The same day Mayor Adams was indicted on wire fraud and bribery charges, FBI agents probing the NYPD raided a downtown Manhattan office building where two top mayoral advisors, both former cops, work, police sources said.
The feds were “looking for records,” sources said, signing into the visitors log at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for the records section on the 16th floor of 375 Pearl St., otherwise known as the Verizon Building.
NYPD Deputy Mayor Phil Banks and mayoral aide Timothy Pearson work on the floor, the sources noted.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the search.
The feds are also looking at whether bribes were paid for NYPD promotions and transfers, another source familiar with the investigation said.
Both Pearson and Banks have been involved with promoting and transferring officers, according to multiple police sources.
Promotions and transfers are referred to as “contracts” in the NYPD and are known to sometimes involve preferential treatment for friends and family, in a profession that prides itself in being passed down through generations.
The Wednesday raid at the Verizon Building, a stone’s throw from NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza, occurred amid multiple federal probes into the Adams administration.
The mayor was indicted Thursday on charges of bribery and wire fraud for allegedly accepting campaign donations and free travel from foreign business people and a Turkish government official in exchange for favorable treatment.
Banks, Pearson and former Police Commissioner Edward Caban all had their phones seized by the feds earlier this month. Caban resigned Sept. 12 following pressure from City Hall after a federal raid on his Rockland County home.
Federal agents also got phones or phone records from six other NYPD officials who worked closely with the police commissioner, including Caban’s chief of staff Raul Pintos, two precinct commanders, a lieutenant and two detectives who work on Caban’s detail.
No one in the Police Department has been arrested or charged.
Earlier this year, the NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit began receiving regular requests from brass at One Police Plaza to sweep their offices for bugs, according to another NYPD source and a source familiar with the probe.
“It’s shady if you’re being investigated by the feds,” the source with knowledge of the investigation said.
Federal agents served the NYPD with a preservation letter on Sept. 6, ordering them not to destroy any electronic files — as investigators looked for evidence of alleged influence peddling by Caban’s brother, James, at Big Apple nightclubs, according to police sources.
Bar owner Shamel Kelly, who owns Juice & Moore on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island, told NBC New York he went to City Hall seeking a break from a heavy police presence at his establishment and that a mayoral staffer introduced him to James Caban, himself a former NYPD officer.
Kelly alleged the commissioner’s twin told him he’d take care of his problems with the police if Kelly paid $2,500.
On Sept. 14, federal investigators subpoenaed phones from a group of NYPD officers responsible in part for fielding complaints about bars, according to police sources.
The cops had allegedly been told to take it easy on bars that were clients of James Caban. “Do not do enforcement, just mediate,” the cops were told, according to a source.
Pearson, who was in charge of migrant services contracts, allegedly told workers in the newly-created Municipal Service Assessment unit he runs that he was looking to line his own pockets, according to an April lawsuit.
“People are doing very well on these contracts,” Pearson said, according to the lawsuit. “I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs?”
The Cabans, Pearson and Banks haven’t been charged.
Adams appointed Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon on Sept. 13, and on Sept. 21, Donlon’s home was searched by the feds. He said they seized materials unrelated to his work with the NYPD and he has not commented on the probe.
