At Metropolis Corridor’s Blue Room, Nadia Shihata speaks alongside Mayor Mamdani following her nomination as town’s subsequent DOI commissioner.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Thursday, Feb. 12, marks the forty third day of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace as we carefully monitor his progress on fulfilling marketing campaign guarantees, appointing key leaders to authorities posts, and managing town’s funds. Right here’s a abstract of what the mayor did.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday nominated former federal prosecutor Nadia Shihata to steer town’s Division of Investigation, tapping a veteran of public corruption and arranged crime instances to supervise town’s impartial watchdog company.
Shihata spent greater than a decade as a federal prosecutor within the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Jap District of New York, the place she labored on main racketeering and public corruption instances, together with serving as a lead prosecutor within the R&B singer R. Kelly’s racketeering and sexual misconduct trial, which resulted in a 30-year jail sentence in September 2021 after Kelly was convicted on all 9 fees he confronted.
Talking at Metropolis Corridor on Feb. 12, the mayor framed her nomination as a central piece of his administration’s push to revive belief in authorities and root out corruption throughout metropolis companies.
“There will be zero tolerance for self-enrichment or corruption in my City Hall,” Mamdani stated. “But words are not enough. They must be backed up by action and accountability.”
If confirmed by the Metropolis Council, Shihata would lead the DOI, which probes corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse throughout metropolis authorities and amongst those that do enterprise with town.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Shihata additionally served as chief of the organized crime and gang part and beforehand as deputy chief of the general public integrity part, supervising investigations into misconduct by public officers.
Earlier in her profession, she labored as an appeals counsel on the Worldwide Prison Tribunal for the previous Yugoslavia, and later clerked for a federal choose and labored in non-public follow at giant regulation corporations.
After leaving the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in 2022, Shihata co-founded the women-owned boutique agency Shihata & Geddes LLP with fellow former prosecutor Elizabeth Geddes. The agency centered on legal protection, civil rights instances, and inside investigations. Shihata departed the agency in September 2025, and the remaining companions later rebranded the follow as Corva Legislation.
“I see the role of commissioner of the Department of Investigation as a continuation of that work,” Shihata stated on the press convention. She stated the company’s mission contains not solely rooting out corruption but additionally stopping it by means of oversight and coverage suggestions. “DOI helps ensure that city government can tackle big challenges effectively and efficiently while operating with integrity, accountability, and fairness for all New Yorkers.”
Shihata, a naturalized citizen and Egyptian American, can be the primary lady of coloration to steer the division, based on the mayor’s workplace. She described the chance to provide again to a metropolis that continues to welcome immigrants as profoundly significant, saying it “means more than I can fully express in words today.”
Her appointment follows the departure final month of former commissioner Jocelyn Strauber, who was appointed by then-Mayor Eric Adams in early 2022 to steer the DOI. Strauber oversaw the DOI inquiry that in the end led to the mayor’s 2024 federal indictment; the costs have been later completely dismissed after President Donald Trump’s Justice Division moved to drop the case.
Mamdani described the brand new nomination as a part of a broader effort to usher in “a new era of public excellence” at Metropolis Corridor, saying many citizens supported him as a result of they wished authorities that works for residents fairly than insiders.
He additionally stated the brand new administration would construct on the work of Strauber, the earlier DOI commissioner, whom he praised for investigating corruption at excessive ranges of presidency.
In response to a reporter’s query, Shihata stated she doesn’t anticipate needing to recuse herself from any ongoing DOI investigations, noting she didn’t characterize anybody underneath investigation by the company throughout her time in non-public follow. If any conflicts come up, she stated, she would observe correct recusal procedures.
If confirmed by the Metropolis Council, she stated she plans to steer the company “with independence, fairness and transparency.”
This can be a growing story; test again for updates.
