At a wedding on Martha’s Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts, key players in New York City Hall sought refuge this weekend from the several federal investigations plaguing Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
On Saturday, a day after Adams pleaded not guilty to criminal charges including bribery and fraud, Sheena Wright, Adams’ first deputy mayor, and David C. Banks, the schools chancellor, married on the island, 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 Banks and 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. Banks’ and Wright’s phones were seized by investigators, who appeared to be conducting a separate inquiry from the one that resulted in Adams’ indictment.
The couple had intended to get married this past summer, but 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.
Regardless of when Banks and Wright originally planned to marry, Saturday’s ceremony could help the couple weather the investigations, said Erin Murphy, a professor at the New York University School of Law.
Under the law, she noted, spousal privilege is “very broad” and allows someone to refuse to testify against their spouse, with very few exceptions.
Murphy said Banks and Wright could have also asserted a common-law marriage.
“This strikes me as two people in a long-term committed relationship who perhaps chose to formalize that relationship for legal clarity or to ensure access to the privileges the state gives to marriages,” Murphy said.
The three people familiar with the wedding plans disputed the idea that the couple were getting married to invoke spousal privilege.
“These people have been in love and engaged for a while, and the Vineyard is their happy place,” one of the people said. “They need a little bit of joy.”
Adams was not present at the wedding, according to a schedule released by his office.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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