Mayor Zohran Mamdani accepted the resignation of Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber Thursday, closing out an extraordinary tenure for the city’s top anti-corruption fighter that included the investigation and ultimate indictment of the mayor who appointed her, Eric Adams.
“We thank Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber for her unwavering fight against corruption. We look forward to continuing that work with our Department of Investigation,” Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec stated in response to THE CITY’s inquiry about the resignation letter Strauber sent Wednesday to City Hall. Pekec noted the search for a replacement is underway.
In an email Strauber sent to DOI staff early Wednesday announcing that she had tendered her resignation, she indicated she had received no immediate word from Mamdani on her status as DOI commissioner, and made clear continuing in the role on an interim basis would not work.
“It has become clear to me that there is no prompt path forward to my remaining in this role permanently. In light of the nature of our work, and our critical independence, continuing in an interim role as the new Administration makes its determination is not feasible,” she wrote.
The resignation disappointed Councilmember Gale Brewer, D-Manhattan, chair of the council’s oversight and investigations committee, a longtime supporter of Strauber’s work.
“She’s an extraordinary DOI commissioner and I’d love her to stay,” Brewer said.
Adams nominated Strauber on Jan. 1, 2022, the first day of his administration, and the Council quickly confirmed her appointment. Although its commissioners are nominated by the mayor, DOI has a long tradition of independence.
When she started as commissioner, DOI and the FBI were already investigating Adams’ campaign fundraising and tapping the phone of Eric Ulrich, a former council member Adams would soon name as a senior advisor and then as the city’s Department of Buildings commissioner.
The DOI/FBI investigations soon spread across the Adams administration, and working with Manhattan federal prosecutors ultimately led to the indictment of Adams in September 2024.
Parallel investigations with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg triggered the indictment of Adams’ chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Ulrich and Jesse Hamilton, an Adams protege the mayor put in charge of city leases. DOI and FBI investigators also seized the phones of several top Adams officials, including his first deputy mayor, schools chancellor and police commissioner.
The indictment of Mayor Adams was a New York City first. Other DOI commissioners have investigated the mayors that nominated them, including DOI Commissioner Mark Peters, who determined Mayor Bill de Blasio had violated city ethics rules by personally soliciting donations for a nonprofit he controlled from real estate developers and lobbyists doing business with his administration. (De Blasio later fired Peters for what he termed erratic behavior.)
Those findings became part of an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney, but in the end de Blasio escaped charges when the feds found they could not bring a case. In Adams’ case, this was the first time in DOI history that that independent agency’s efforts resulted in an indictment of a mayor.
In her letter to Mamdani, Strauber said her resignation would take effect Jan. 16 and that Chris Ryan, deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives, would step into the role of acting DOI commissioner until a replacement could be nominated and confirmed.
In her email to staff, she praised her team while noting their work was constrained by “limited resources.” Strauber had repeatedly asked for more investigators but her requests were often put in limbo by the Office of Management Budget.
“Your accomplishments over the past four years are extraordinary. You have done some of the most complex and important cases in the agency’s history with very limited resources,” she noted.
While DOI’s budget rose from $53 million in fiscal 2024 to $62 million in fiscal 2026, the agency’s employee headcount has dropped steadily over the years, from 546 in fiscal 2020 to 394 in fiscal 2025.
The agency also plays a crucial role in performing background checks of new top level hires, forwarding whatever information it finds on prospective hires but not taking a position on the suitability of the candidate, even if adverse information is uncovered. It eliminated a longstanding backlog in December, but has 771 background investigations pending as of this week.
