NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City mayor’s former chief adviser, her son and two real estate investors were charged Thursday in a bribery conspiracy, charges that come as the mayor himself faces a separate corruption case and a series of criminal investigations roils City Hall.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Thursday that Ingrid Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn D. Martin II and real estate investors Raizada Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi were indicted in an alleged conspiracy involving bribes of more than $100,000 while Lewis-Martin served as Mayor Eric Adams’ chief adviser — a post she left only last weekend. 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,” the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a court document.
It said the developers repeatedly asked Lewis-Martin for help getting needed approvals for their projects, and she in turn pressed officials in the city buildings department to take action, and they did.
“Again and again, she delivered for them,” Bragg said at a news conference.
In return, the developers paid $100,000 to Lewis-Martin’s son, who put the money in an account he shared with her, prosecutors said in the court document. It said he used some of it to buy a $113,000 Porsche last year.
Lewis-Martin tried to cover her tracks by communicating with Vaid through Signal, an encrypted messaging app, in December 2022, prosecutors wrote. At one point, when he requested a “favor” from Lewis-Martin concerning a construction application, she responded: “Please only use Signal for asks.” The same day, Lewis-Martin forwarded Vaid’s requests to the acting buildings commissioner, according to the court document.
Messages seeking comment were left for attorneys for Lewis-Martin, her son and Dwivedi. Information on an attorney for Martin II wasn’t immediately available.
Lewis-Martin, who resigned Sunday from her role as one of the most powerful officials in City Hall, has said she’s 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.”
She surrendered Thursday morning at Bragg’s lower Manhattan office.
Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, told reporters this week that Lewis-Martin was expected to face criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts.
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.
Meanwhile, 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.
The mayor, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. His federal trial is scheduled for next April.
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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This story has been corrected to remove an erroneous reference to a federal indictment. These are state charges.
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Associated Press writer Karen Matthews contributed.
