Ex-Top Aide to Mayor Adams and Her Son Are Charged in Corruption Case
The New York Times
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned as the mayor’s chief adviser, was charged in a bribery scheme involving $100,000 for a new Porsche for her son.
Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday charged the former chief adviser to Mayor Eric Adams and her son with taking $100,000 in bribes from two businessmen in exchange for intervening with city regulators on the businessmen’s behalf.
The adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and her son received the payments in checks, which her son cashed and used to buy a Porsche and other luxury items, the prosecutors said.
Ms. Lewis-Martin, her son, Glenn Martin II, and the businessmen were charged in a four-count indictment with participating in “a long-running bribery, money-laundering and conspiracy scheme.” The indictment accuses Ms. Lewis-Martin of using her official position to “illegally influence Department of Buildings and other city decisions” in exchange for the cash and other benefits for her and her son.
The businessmen, Mayank Dwivedi and Raizada Vaid, were seeking help with pushing construction projects through the city’s Buildings Department, where they had met with delays, the indictment said.
“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 from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said in a narrative of the accusations that accompanied the indictment.
A lawyer for Ms. Lewis-Martin, Arthur L. Aidala, said in a statement before she and her co-defendants were arraigned that the prosecutors’ “interpretation of the facts will make no sense to any New York jury.”
