(Bloomberg) -- US prosecutors subpoenaed Molly Schaeffer, director of New York City’s Office of Asylum Seeker Operations, according to a person familiar with the matter, amid a widening set of investigations that have engulfed Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
It wasn’t clear what federal authorities were seeking in Friday’s subpoena or whether it is related to any of several probes that have led to the seizure of phones from senior administration officials, according to the person, who asked not to be named since the matter isn’t public.
The probes come at a precarious time for the 64-year-old mayor, a former police captain who intends to seek a second term and faces multiple potential challengers in next year’s Democratic primary, with historically low approval ratings.
“While we won’t comment on an ongoing investigation, as we have repeatedly said, we expect all team members to fully comply with any ongoing inquiry,” Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy said in a statement. “Molly Schaeffer is an integral part of our team and works hard every day to deliver for New Yorkers.”
Schaeffer didn’t immediately respond to a LinkedIn message and email seeking comment.
QuickTake: What Are the Probes Surrounding NYC Mayor Eric Adams?
The subpoena comes a day after NBC 4 and the New York Post reported that federal agents had served a subpoena on a Brooklyn Catholic church seeking information about contacts between Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone and one of the church’s leaders, Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello.
Earlier this month federal agents searched the homes or seized the phones of multiple senior administration officials. Among them were Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks. They also included Edward Caban, who has since resigned as police commissioner, his former chief of staff Raul Pintos and Adams’ senior adviser Tim Pearson, a former police officer.
Caban stepped down on Sept. 12 after reports that federal authorities were investigating his twin brother James Caban’s nightlife consulting business. Two days later, Adams’ chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, resigned. Two days after that, the Manhattan US attorney’s office charged two former senior Fire Department officials in an alleged bribery scheme.
More than 200,000 migrants, many of them intending to seek asylum, have entered New York City since the spring of 2022, according to city officials, overwhelming the city’s shelter resources. City officials have created a massive apparatus to feed, house and care for the city’s migrant population, converting hotels into temporary shelters and signing a flurry of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to meet the need.
Adams has been a frequent critic of the federal government’s response to the migrant crisis, arguing that cities like New York were left to deal with the problem on their own.
A poll conducted in December by Quinnipiac University found that Adams’ approval ratings were the lowest since the school started polling New York City’s voters nearly three decades earlier. And in a June poll conducted by Slingshot Strategies, just 36% of voters had a favorable opinion of Adams, while 52% viewed him unfavorably.
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