Thursday, Feb. 12, marks the 43rd day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday nominated former federal prosecutor Nadia Shihata to lead the city’s Department of Investigation, tapping a veteran of public corruption and organized crime cases to oversee the city’s independent watchdog agency.
Shihata spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she worked on major racketeering and public corruption cases, including serving as a lead prosecutor in the R&B singer R. Kelly’s racketeering and sexual misconduct trial, which resulted in a 30-year prison sentence in September 2021 after Kelly was convicted on all nine charges he faced.
Speaking at City Hall on Feb. 12, the mayor framed her nomination as a central piece of his administration’s push to restore trust in government and root out corruption across city agencies.
“There will be zero tolerance for self-enrichment or corruption in my City Hall,” Mamdani said. “But words are not enough. They must be backed up by action and accountability.”
If confirmed by the City Council, Shihata would lead the DOI, which probes corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse across city government and among those who do business with the city.
Shihata also served as chief of the organized crime and gang section and previously as deputy chief of the public integrity section, supervising investigations into misconduct by public officials.
Earlier in her career, she worked as an appeals counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and later clerked for a federal judge and worked in private practice at large law firms.
After leaving the U.S. attorney’s office in 2022, Shihata co-founded the women-owned boutique firm Shihata & Geddes LLP with fellow former prosecutor Elizabeth Geddes. The firm focused on criminal defense, civil rights cases, and internal investigations. Shihata departed the firm in September 2025, and the remaining partners later rebranded the practice as Corva Law.
“I see the role of commissioner of the Department of Investigation as a continuation of that work,” Shihata said at the press conference. She said the agency’s mission includes not only rooting out corruption but also preventing it through oversight and policy recommendations. “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, would be the first woman of color to lead the department, according to the mayor’s office. She described the opportunity to give back to a city that continues to welcome immigrants as profoundly meaningful, saying it “means more than I can fully express in words today.”
Her appointment follows the departure last month of former commissioner Jocelyn Strauber, who was appointed by then-Mayor Eric Adams in early 2022 to lead the DOI. Strauber oversaw the DOI inquiry that ultimately led to the mayor’s 2024 federal indictment; the charges were later permanently dismissed after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department moved to drop the case.
Mamdani described the new nomination as part of a broader effort to usher in “a new era of public excellence” at City Hall, saying many voters supported him because they wanted government that works for residents rather than insiders.
He also said the new administration would build on the work of Strauber, the previous DOI commissioner, whom he praised for investigating corruption at high levels of government.
In response to a reporter’s question, Shihata said she does not anticipate needing to recuse herself from any ongoing DOI investigations, noting she did not represent anyone under investigation by the agency during her time in private practice. If any conflicts arise, she said, she would follow proper recusal procedures.
If confirmed by the City Council, she said she plans to lead the agency “with independence, fairness and transparency.”
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
