Ed Mullins, the firebrand president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, has resigned from the role, the union said.
The FBI raided the SBA headquarters in Lower Manhattan as well as Mullins' home in Port Washington, Long Island, on Tuesday morning. A letter from the SBA executive board acknowledged that "President Mullins is apparently the target of the federal investigation" and "[g]iven the severity of this matter and the uncertainty of its outcome," they asked him to resign from his position.
"This evening," the letter said, "President Mullins has agreed to tender his resignation as President of the SBA. Like all of us, Ed Mullins is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and we ask you to withhold judgment until all the facts have been established. However, the day to day functioning and the important business of the SBA cannot be distracted by the existence of this investigation."
Mullins led the SBA, which has 13,000 members and a $264 million retirement fund, since 2002. While the FBI would not disclose the nature of the investigation, NY1 reported they may be examining "possible mismanagement of funds." According to the Post, "High-ranking law enforcement official said the investigation involved suspicions of mail and wire fraud, or misappropriations of SBA funds."
In February, Mullins was charged with misconduct by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, after making bigoted comments on Twitter and releasing the arrest record of Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter, who had been apprehended during the George Floyd protests. The Twitter remarks were towards Congressman Ritchie Torres, who the SBA called a "first-class whore" while Torres was a city council member, and then-NYC Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot, who the SBA called a "bitch," allegedly after Barbot had been in a dispute with the NYPD over pandemic mask distribution.
He also shared a racist video with reportedly thousands of SBA members. The video, which was circulated in 2019, referred to Black people as "monsters," called public housing a "war zone," and mentioned "welfare queens," with Mullins calling it "the best video I've ever seen telling the public the absolute truth."
Andrea Catsimatidis, Manhattan's Republican party chair, insinuated on Twitter that Mullins' support of Donald Trump during the 2020 election led to the raid, "The left is sending a message to silence and squash all political opposition- fall in line or suffer." Mullins has been a frequent guest on the radio show of her father, billionaire Republican John Catsimatidis.
Mullins and a lawyer for the SBA did not return requests for comment. The Post noted that Mullins appeared at his home on Tuesday afternoon and then left without answering questions.
