Former top aide to NYC Mayor Eric Adams indicted on state bribery charges

MANHATTAN (CN) — Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday filed bribery charges against Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who abruptly resigned as a top advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams over the weekend.

Lewis-Martin is accused of using her position as Adams’ chief adviser to trade influence for cash. According to the19-page indictment, Lewis-Martin often used her son Glenn Martin II — a co-defendant in the case — as an intermediary between two businessmen: Raizada “Pinky” Vaid and Mayank Dwived, who were also charged.

Prosecutors say Lewis-Martin accepted a number of perks from the pair of businessmen to benefit her son, like financial support for business ventures, including a clothing line and a Chick-fil-A franchise.

In exchange, prosecutors say Lewis-Martin expedited New York City Department of Buildings permits for Vaid and Dwived’s projects, which included a rooftop bar in midtown Manhattan and a Lower East Side hotel.

To conceal the scheme, Lewis-Martin encouraged the businessmen to use the encrypted messaging app Signal and communicate through her son, according to the indictment.

“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in a long-running bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy scheme by using her position and authority as the chief adviser to the mayor of the City of New York to illegally influence Department of Buildings and other city decisions in exchange for more than $100,000 in cash and benefits for herself and her son, Glenn Martin II,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement announcing the charges.

Lewis-Martin and her co-defendants surrendered early Thursday morning at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. She was arraigned that afternoon, arriving at court in handcuffs.

She pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Outside of the court house, Lewis-Martin’s attorney Arthur Aidala called the case a “witch hunt.”

“She helped a constituent. She helped a citizen navigate the thick red tape of city government,” Aidala told reporters. “What she was doing here was just moving things along.”

The indictment was no surprise to Lewis-Martin and her legal team, who previewed the charges to come at a press conference Monday.

“I have never done anything illegal in my capacity in government,” Lewis-Martin said at the presser. “In my tenure, I have never taken any gifts, money, anything.”

Aidala, a high-profile criminal attorney who has represented the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Rudy Giuliani, joined Lewis-Martin. He claimed the case was merely a way for Manhattan prosecutors to make headlines and weave their way into thefederal prosecution of Adams by targeting one of his closest aides.

He also suggested, without providing evidence, that the case was politically motivated. Lewis-Martin and Bragg are both Democrats.

“We’re preparing for an indictment to come down,” Aidala said Monday. “I’m sure it’ll be written in a way that sounds damning.”

As for her sudden resignation on Sunday, Lewis-Martin held that it had nothing to do with any legal issues concerning her or the mayor. Rather, it was a planned retirement, Aidala said.

“It was time for her to have a little bit of fun,” he claimed.

The mayor’s office is already engulfed in turnover and turmoil as Adams fights federal charges that he took illegal campaign contributions and luxury gifts from Turkish businessmen and government officials — news that prompted a wave of high-profile resignations and calls to the mayor to step down.

Nicknamed “The Lioness of City Hall,” Lewis-Martin was widely considered to be Adams’ second-in-command until she, too, left unceremoniously over the weekend. She has been a close friend to Adams for more than four decades, and was a driving force behind his political ascent from police captain to mayor.

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