The NYPD’s ex-Chief of Department Philip Banks could be named as an unindicted co-conspirator at the upcoming NYPD bribery trial involving former de Blasio donor Jeremy Reichberg, it emerged on Thursday.
Banks’ name has yet to come up specifically, but a reference was made to him at a hearing on Thursday when a lawyer for Reichberg complained that the defense is only now getting email evidence tied “unindicted co-conspirators” in the case, including “Chief-1 and Detective-1.”
“Chief-1” is Banks, who retired in 2014, and “Detective-1” is Michael Milici, who was dismissed in 2016, sources told The Post.
The Manhattan US Attorney’s office declined to comment.
Prosecutor Martin Bell didn’t deny that “Chief-1” and “Detective-1” might be named as unindicted co-conspirators. He only said that allegations tied to Reichberg’s efforts to bribe as-yet-unnamed NYPD officers will “come in as background” at the trial, including through testimony by government witne🔥ss Jona Rechnitz.
“Phil Banks has never been charged with any crime whatsoever, and that will not change despite the government gratuitously referring to him as an unindicted co-conspirator,” said Banks’ attorney Ben Brafman.
A lawyer for Milici didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Neither men have been charged with any crimes.
Reichberg and his co-defendant, formܫer NYPD officer James Grant, were scheduled to go to trial on April 30th. But the judge on Thursday said he plans to delay the trial by at least a w𝔉eek amid bickering by the lawyers.
Rechnitz, who began cooperating with the feds in 2016, has already testified to some of the bribes he and Reichberg allegedly provided Banks and Milici.
At the corruption trial of former NYC correction officers’ union head Norman Seabrook, Rechnitz said Reichberg bought a hooker for Grant aღnd Milici during a trip to Las Vegas to watch the Super Bowl.
Rechnitz and Reichberg also treated Banks with steak dinners and a trip to Israel in exchange for “access” to 1 Police Plaza, the real estate developer said last year.