Top Adams Aides Get Married as Investigation Swirls Around Them

Eric Adams’s schools chancellor and first deputy mayor married in Martha’s Vineyard this weekend. Both have had their phones seized by federal investigators.

At a wedding in Martha’s Vineyard, key players in City Hall sought refuge this weekend from the several federal investigations plaguing Mayor Eric Adams’s administration.

A day after Mr. Adams pleaded not guilty to criminal charges including bribery and fraud, Sheena Wright, Mr. Adams’s first deputy mayor, and David C. Banks, the schools chancellor, married on the island in Massachusetts, according to three people familiar with their plans.

Their marriage was said to have been planned for some time, and it followed a yearslong relationship during which they shared a home. But it might also allow Mr. Banks and Ms. Wright to claim spousal privilege, which gives them the right to decline to testify against each other in court, should that become necessary, legal experts said.

The couple’s home in Harlem was visited by federal authorities in early September. Both Mr. Banks’s and Ms. Wright’s phones were seized by investigators, who appeared to be conducting a separate inquiry from the one that resulted in Mr. Adams’s indictment.

The couple had intended to get married this summer, but Ms. Wright’s mother fell ill, according to two of the people familiar with their plans. The third person said the couple had been making wedding plans for a while, well before their phones were seized. The three people asked not to be named to preserve their relationships with the couple.