The New York Metropolis mayor’s former chief adviser, her son and two actual property traders have been indicted on Thursday in a bribery conspiracy, costs that come because the mayor himself faces a separate corruption case and a sequence of legal investigations roils Metropolis Corridor.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn D. Martin II and actual property traders Raizada Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi pleaded not responsible as prosecutors accused the 4 of participating in blatant a pay-to-play scheme.
He mentioned the scheme went on throughout a lot of Lewis-Martin’s almost three-year tenure as Mayor Eric Adams’ chief adviser — a submit she left solely final weekend.
“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,” Bragg’s workplace mentioned in a court docket doc.
Forward of the indictment, Lewis-Martin denied any wrongdoing. Messages searching for remark have been left Thursday for attorneys for her, her son and Dwivedi. Data on an legal professional for Vaid wasn’t instantly accessible.
Prosecutors wrote that the builders repeatedly requested Lewis-Martin for assist getting OKs for such tasks as a rooftop bar and a resort, and she or he in flip pressed officers within the metropolis’s Division of Buildings to take motion, which they did.
“Repeatedly, she delivered for them,” mentioned Bragg.
In return, the builders paid $100,000 to Lewis-Martin’s son, who put the cash in an account he shared together with her, and used a few of it to purchase a $113,000 Porsche final 12 months, prosecutors mentioned within the court docket doc. They mentioned the son additionally received assist from the businessmen with a few of his personal ventures.
Lewis-Martin tried to cowl her tracks by speaking with Vaid by way of Sign, an encrypted messaging app, in December 2022, prosecutors wrote.
At one level in January 2023, he texted her, “I would like this favor. That is nonetheless caught at DOB. . . . Please get this by way of,” in line with the court docket doc.
“Please solely use Sign for asks,” she responded, adding ““Next time just text me ‘trying to reach you(’) and I will Look for it.”
The identical day, Lewis-Martin forwarded Vaid’s requests to the performing buildings commissioner, in line with the court docket doc. It mentioned a buildings division worker met with Vaid the subsequent day.
Bragg is also prosecuting a separate bribery conspiracy case in opposition to former buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, who has pleaded not responsible. However no buildings division staff or officers have been charged within the alleged scheme involving Lewis-Martin. Ulrich’s successor was the one who obtained her messages, and it is unclear whether or not anybody on the company had any inkling of the alleged pay-to-play behind the scenes.
Lewis-Martin, 63, has been one of many mayor’s closest confidants, serving in senior roles as Adams ascended the ranks of presidency in New York over almost 20 years. She resigned Sunday. She has mentioned 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 decrease Manhattan workplace. Lewis-Martin’s legal professional, Arthur Aidala, had informed reporters she anticipated to face legal costs associated to allegedly improper items.
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 whereas Manhattan prosecutors took her telephones and searched her residence.
Bragg famous that the case in opposition to Lewis-Martin does not allege that Adams did something legal. He mentioned the mayor is not a goal of state prosecutors’ investigation.
Federal prosecutors charged Adams in September with accepting luxurious journey perks and unlawful marketing campaign contributions from a Turkish official and different overseas nationals seeking to purchase his affect. That investigation turned public late final 12 months after federal brokers searched the house of the mayor’s high fundraiser, Brianna Suggs. Lewis-Martin has referred to Suggs as her goddaughter.
The mayor, a Democrat like Bragg, has pleaded not responsible to costs of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery. His federal trial is scheduled for subsequent April.
Since then, the Adams administration has been enveloped by a sequence of searches and seizures from investigators, resulting in the resignations of high officers together with his police commissioner, colleges chancellor, a number of deputy mayors and his director of Asian affairs.
