Two more aides to Mayor Eric Mayor Adams caught up in federal corruption probes surrounding his administration are exiting City Hall, the mayor’s office confirmed Monday evening.
One of the staffers, Rana Abbasova, was fired, while the other Winnie Greco has resigned, Politico first reported and a City Hall spokesperson confirmed. However, the mayoral spokesperson did not immediately say why Abbasova was fired and Greco stepped down.
Mohamed Bahi, a Muslim liason for the mayor, also resigned on Monday and Ahsan Chughta, an adviser for South Asian and Muslim affairs was fired on Sept. 30, according to a report from the Daily News.
Both had their homes searched by federal agents in connection with separate investigations over the past year.
Abbasova, Adams’ liaison to the Turkish community, is reportedly a cooperating witness in the five-count federal indictment leveled against him earlier this month. She is widely believed to be an Adams staffer mentioned throughout the indictment who organized his free or heavilly discounted trips to Turkey and illegal foreign donations from Turkish nationals that federal prosecutors allege ran afoul of the law.
The mayor’s attorney Alex Spiro has aggressively tried to paint Abbasova as a liar who fabricated details she gave the feds about Adams’ involvement in the alleged illegal activity.
Abbasova had been on unpaid leave since the FBI raided her home last November in connection with the federal probe.
Greco had her two Bronx homes and a Queens mall where she conducted fundraisers on behalf of Adams’ 2021 campaign searched in connection with a separate federal probe helmed by the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn in February. While much is still unknown about the investigation into Greco, the news site THE CITY reported that workers at the mall that was raided — the New World Mall — were illegally reimbursed for their donations to Adams’ campaign or did not know of the donations made in their names at all.
Although Greco was placed on sick leave after the raids due to what was described as a medical episode that she experienced during the law enforcement actions, she was reportedly back to working full-time at the start of May.
Abbasova and Greco are just the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the Adams administration since the feds ramped up their investigations into City Hall on Sept. 4.
The pace and number of exits have intensified since the mayor was indicted on charges of bribery, soliciting foreign campaign donations, and wire fraud late last month. Earlier on Monday, Mayor Adams confirmed that Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks had stepped down.
The staffing changes are reportedly Adams’ effort to clean up the upper ranks of his administration at the behest of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove him from office.
