NYC Schools Chief Announces Retirement Amid Federal Investigations

New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks is retiring amid a series of federal investigations that continue to rock Mayor Eric Adams’s administration.
Banks, appointed two years ago by Adams to lead the nation’s largest public school system, said Tuesday that he will step down at the end of this year.
“I grew up in our public schools and spent most of my adult life serving the students and families of our city, and I have every confidence that the work we’ve started will continue to thrive and benefit generations to come,” the 62-year-old schools chief wrote.
In his own statement, Adams said he was “immensely grateful and proud of the work accomplished” during Banks’s tenure.
Banks is the fourth high-ranking city official to resign this month. Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan announced his resignation for personal and family reasons the day before Banks’s announcement, and NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg left their posts about two weeks ago.
The exodus of New York City’s top cabinet members underscores the mounting crisis facing the mayor’s inner circle, which is now the target of at least four federal investigations, including one involving Banks and his brothers.
On Sept. 4, the FBI seized Banks’s personal and work phones during a search of the home he shares with his partner, Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. Agents also seized electronics from Banks’s two brothers: Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, who served as NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer from 2013 to 2014; and Terence Banks, a retired MTA supervisor who recently started a lobbying firm.
As for now, none of the Banks brothers has been accused of any wrongdoing.
In addition to the Banks probe, federal agents are investigating Edward Caban’s twin brother, James, a former NYPD sergeant who operates a nightclub security business. The Caban brothers own houses close to each other, both of which were visited by investigators who seized electronic devices during their searches.
The FBI has not made public details of that investigation, but a search warrant obtained by the New York Times in 2023 indicated that investigators are looking into whether the Adams campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive donations from foreign sources.
Additionally, federal prosecutors are investigating Winnie Greco, the city’s director of Asian Affairs and prominent fundraiser for Adams.