Construction CEO Linked To Banks Brothers Probe Indicted In Manhattan

By Greg B. Smith, The City

Dec. 15, 2025

The CEO of a telecommunications construction firm entangled in a federal influence-peddling investigation targeting two of Mayor Eric Adams’ former top officials — David and Philip Banks — and their brother, Terence, was indicted Thursday on corporate fraud charges.

Anthony Tepedino, CEO of Allstate Sales Group (ASG), was a client of Terence Banks’ consulting firm, Pearl Alliance. Banks's firm is the subject of an ongoing probe by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton’s public corruption unit.

The indictment announced by Clayton charging Tepedino with steering millions of dollars from his firm into shell companies he controlled noted that the alleged fraud scheme came to a sudden halt on Sept. 4, 2024 — the day the FBI seized the cell phones of Tepedino and “others.” That same day, the FBI and city Department of Investigation (DOI) confiscated the phones of Terence, David and Phil Banks in a probe focusing on whether Terence won clients by promoting his connections to his siblings.

Prosecutors in Clayton’s office in recent months have also questioned witnesses about Terence Banks’ hiring by ASG.

The indictment focuses exclusively on corporate fraud and does not mention any interaction with any government entity, but DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber is quoted in Clayton’s press release. A DOI spokesperson declined to comment on the department’s role in the Tepedino charges.

As he began his term at City Hall in January 2022, Mayor Adams appointed David Banks schools chancellor and named Philip Banks as his deputy mayor for public safety. Terence Banks did not win a job on the Adams team but soon after formed Pearl Alliance, listed as a “values-driven government and community relations firm forging strategic partnerships between business and government.”

It’s not clear exactly what Terence Banks did for ASG, but Tepedino was quoted on Pearl’s website, stating: “Your company needs a partner like Pearl Alliance to help you overcome obstacles leading to successful project execution like it did for Allstate Sales Group.” The website was taken down shortly after the Banks’ brothers’ phones were seized by law enforcement.

Over the summer, Manhattan federal prosecutors questioned Patricia Lynch, a veteran New York lobbyist who’d been hired by ASG to lobby the Adams’ administration on unspecified “technology” issues, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Prosecutors asked Lynch about Terry Banks, according to the source. Lynch said she’d dropped ASG as a client after learning the firm had hired Terry Banks.

On Thursday the case was unsealed and assigned to Manhattan federal judge Margaret Garnett, who immediately recused herself, apparently due to DOI’s involvement. Garnett was DOI commissioner under Mayor Bill de Blasio and has stepped away from cases involving her former agency.

THE CITY has reported that Phil Banks admits that when he was deputy mayor, he discussed another one of Terry’s clients, SaferWatch, with him, about installing the firm’s apps in school safety officer phones. David Banks also met with another one of Terry’s clients, 21stCentEd, then subsequently appeared in a promotional video for the firm, which also won 138 no-bid contracts totaling $2 million from the city school system.

Tepedino’s lawyer, Kevin Marino, did not return THE CITY’s call. Terry Banks’ attorney, Timothy Sini, did not respond to THE CITY’s emailed request for comment.

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.