Outgoing Schools Chancellor David Banks on Wednesday shut down rumors he wed his decade-plus partner First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright for spousal privilege as Mayor Adams’s top aides are ensnared in a federal corruption investigation.
“I think anybody that would criticize me has probably never been in love,” Banks told FOX 5’s Good Day New York. “The reality is that Sheena and I have been together for quite some time. We’ve been planning our marriage for a while.”
“Both of our parents are really getting older and having some health issues, and we made the right decision to do it when we did. And any suggestion otherwise to me is just ridiculous on his face,” the chancellor said, one day after a New York Post reporter confronted the newlyweds outside their Harlem townhouse about the privilege, which protects communications between married couples and prevents spouses from testifying against one another in court.
While their union gives them the right to decline to testify against each other, legal experts said, it does not extend to their communications from before their weekend wedding on Martha’s Vineyard, and there is no evidence the couple, who got engaged in fall 2022, tied the knot for legal protection.
The nuptials, Banks said, were limited to immediate family and “just a couple of friends.” Photos shared with FOX 5 showed the pair — Wright in a lace mid-length dress, Banks in a linen suit — wed in a casual ceremony at a lush garden without an altar.
With investigations swirling City Hall and Adams back in court Wednesday on federal bribery and campaign finance charges, Banks said he remains focused and school continues to open “every day.” Sources told the Daily News investigators are looking into the chancellor’s consultant brother Terence Banks’ business interests before the city — including with the agencies of David and Phil Banks, the deputy mayor of public safety.
Chancellor David Banks and Sheena Wright wed at Martha’s Vineyard last weekend. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)
“I think parents all across New York City would tell you, in no way do they see any level of distraction,” Banks said. “They see a level of stability and focus, and we continue to move the work forward.”
While the newlyweds were back in the city this week, Banks said he was hopeful for a honeymoon after his retirement, effective Dec. 31.