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

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s mayor’s former chief adviser, her son and two real estate investors were charged Thursday with a bribery conspiracy, charges that come as the mayor himself faces a separate corruption case and a series of criminal investigations roils the town 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 more than $100,000 in bribes while Lewis-Martin served as Mayor Eric Adams’ chief adviser — a position she left only last weekend. Lewis-Martin and her son are also charged with money laundering.

“From the moment Lewis-Martin became the second-highest 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 filing.

It said the developers repeatedly asked Lewis-Martin for help getting the necessary approvals for their projects, and she in turn pushed city building department officials to act, and they did.

“Time and time again she delivered for them,” Bragg said at a press conference.

In return, the developers paid $100,000 to Lewis-Martin’s son, who put the money into 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 his 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 regarding a building application, she replied: “Please only use Signal for questions.” That same day, Lewis-Martin forwarded Vaid’s requests to the acting building commissioner, according to the court document.

Messages seeking comment were left with attorneys for Lewis-Martin, her son and Dwivedi. Information on an attorney for Martin II was not immediately available.

Lewis-Martin, who resigned on Sunday from her role as one of the most powerful officials at City Hall, has said that she is being “falsely accused” and that she had “made no arrangements in advance to take any gifts or money or have 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 office in lower Manhattan.

Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, told reporters this week that Lewis-Martin was expected to face criminal charges related to the alleged inappropriate gifts.

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

The prosecutor met her at an airport in New York in September when she got off a plane from Japan. 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 who wanted to buy his influence. That investigation became public late last year after federal agents searched the home by the mayor’s top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs. Lewis-Martin has referred to Suggs as her goddaughter.

The mayor, a Democrat, has pleaded not guilty charges of conspiracy, fraud and bribery. His federal trial is scheduled for next April.

Since then, the Adams administration has been beset by a series of searches and seizures by investigators, leading to the resignation of top officials, including his police commissioner, schools chancellormore 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 taxes.

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Associated Press writer Karen Matthews contributed.