A tech company hired a top NYC official’s brother. A private meeting and $1.4M in contracts followed
A tech company hired a top NYC official's brother. A private meeting and $1.4M in contracts followed
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-mayor-federal-investigation-banks-b2369819ff7ccd4e630899eb08538bae
A consulting firm run by the brother of two top New York City officials is facing federal scrutiny over his work on behalf of companies that were seeking city contracts.
Ahead of the 2022 school year, the education technology company 21stCentEd was seeking to expand its presence in New York City’s public schools. So they turned to a man, Terence Banks, whose new consulting firm promised to connect clients with top government stakeholders.
Banks wasn’t a registered lobbyist. His day job, at the time, was as a supervisor in the city’s subway system. But he had at least one platinum connection: His older brother, David Banks, is New York City’s schools chancellor, overseeing the nation’s largest school system.
Within a month of the hire, 21stCentEd had secured a private meeting with the schools chancellor. In the two years since that October 2022 meeting, more than $1.4 million in Education Department funds have flowed to the company, nearly tripling its previous total, records show.
The siblings — along with a third brother, Philip Banks, who serves as New York City’s deputy mayor of public safety — are now enmeshed in a sprawling federal probe that has touched several high-ranking members of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.