By Canadian Press

Former top aide to New York City’s mayor charged in a bribery conspiracy

Dec 19, 2024 | 12:08 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal indictment released Thursday charges the mayor’s former chief adviser, her son and two real estate investors in a bribery conspiracy.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., on Thursday announced the indictment of Ingrid Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn D. Martin II and real estate investors Raizada Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi in a conspiracy involving bribes of more than $100,000 while Lewis-Martin served as chief advisor to Mayor Eric Adams. Lewis-Martin and her son also are charged with money laundering.

“From the moment Lewis-Martin became the second most senior person in City Hall, she abused her position and sold her influence to enrich herself and her family,” prosecutors said in a court document.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — The former chief advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams surrendered Thursday to face corruption charges in the latest blow to the administration of a mayor under indictment amid investigations into multiple aides and allies.

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Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned Sunday from her role as one of the most powerful officials in City Hall, was seen entering the lower Manhattan office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg early Thursday morning.

Bragg and the commissioner of the city’s watchdog Department of Investigation, Jocelyn Strauber, have scheduled a news conference for Thursday afternoon. The topic was not announced, but two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Lewis-Martin was expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon on charges brought by Bragg’s office.

The people were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. The specific charges against Lewis-Martin were not publicly announced.

Messages seeking comment were left Thursday with the district attorney’s office and with Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala.

The Department of Investigation declined comment on Wednesday.

Aidala told reporters this week that Lewis-Martin was expected to face criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts.

Lewis-Martin said Monday that she was being “falsely accused” and that she had “not made any arrangements in advance to take any gifts or money, or to have any gifts or money given to a family member or friend in order for me to do my job.”

The Adams administration has been roiled by criminal investigations. The mayor, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery in an unrelated federal case scheduled for trial next April.

Lewis-Martin, 63, has been one of the mayor’s closest confidants, serving in senior roles as Adams ascended the ranks of government in New York over nearly two decades.

Prosecutors met her at an airport in New York in September as she was getting off a flight from Japan. The federal prosecutors served her with a subpoena while Manhattan prosecutors took her phones and searched her home.

Adams was charged in September with accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. That investigation became public late last year after federal agents searched the home of the mayor’s top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs. Lewis-Martin has referred to Suggs as her goddaughter.

Since then, the Adams administration has been enveloped by a series of searches and seizures from investigators, leading to the resignations of top officials, including his police commissioner, schools chancellor, multiple deputy mayors and his director of Asian affairs.

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Associated Press writer Karen Matthews contributed.

Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press