Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the brash consigliere of embattled Mayor Eric Adams, was accused Thursday of buying and selling favors for 2 New York Metropolis hoteliers in trade for bribes — together with a $100,000 mortgage for her DJ son to purchase a Porsche.
The highly-anticipated indictment in Manhattan Supreme Court docket ranges bribery expenses towards Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn Martin II, hotelier Mayank Dwivedi and actual property investor Raizada Vaid.
“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in a long-running bribery, cash laundering, and conspiracy scheme by utilizing her place and authority because the Chief Advisor to the Mayor of the Metropolis of New York to illegally affect Division of Buildings and different metropolis selections in trade for greater than $100,000 in money and advantages for herself and her son, Glenn Martin II,” mentioned Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg in an announcement.
Lewis-Martin, 63, allegedly expedited allow hold-ups with the Glass Ceiling, a rooftop bar close to Herald Sq., and the Decrease East Aspect’s Resort on Rivington, courtroom paperwork state.
Dwivedi and Vaid then gave her son, who goes by the identify DJ Suave Luciano, two $50,000 checks, courtroom paperwork state.
The DJ deposited the money in an account shared along with his public servant mom, after which transferred $50,000 to his enterprise, Suave Productions, earlier than utilizing it to situation a $113,000 cashier’s test to purchase a Porsche, prosecutors allege.
Lewis-Martin additionally allegedly tried to cowl up the conspiracy by telling the group to make use of Sign, a third-party encrypted messaging app, and use coded language, prosecutors mentioned.
She surrendered to authorities early Thursday, arriving at Manhattan Felony Court docket carrying a leopard-print prime and daring crimson lipstick alongside along with her son.
They’re anticipated to be arraigned Thursday afternoon following a press convention held by Bragg and metropolis Division of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Stauber.
Manhattan prosecutors and DOI investigators collectively ran the probe into Lewis-Martin, who’s a longtime confidante to Adams — and is now the highest-profile metropolis officers to face expenses for the reason that mayor himself was indicted on federal corruption expenses in late September.
Lewis-Martin’s anticipation of felony expenses led to her sudden resignation over the weekend, officers mentioned — in addition to defiant, preemptive Monday information convention along with her legal professional Arthur Aidala.
The pair lambasted Bragg’s workplace for allegedly conducting a political prosecution.
“I’m right here falsely accused of one thing,” Lewis-Martin mentioned. “I don’t know precisely what it’s, however I do know that I used to be informed that it’s one thing that’s unlawful, and I’ve by no means achieved something unlawful in my capability in authorities.”
The indictment provides to Adams’ authorized issues as a number of felony investigations shut in on his inside circle, with the mayor dealing with unprecedented federal bribery and corruption expenses by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Lewis-Martin had averted the embarrassing federal raids and subpoenas that befell a lot of her colleagues — till, that’s, she returned from a trip to Japan in late September.
State and federal authorities had been ready for Lewis-Martin when her airplane landed at JFK Airport, with the DA investigators taking her telephone and feds slapping her with a subpoena for testimony in Adams’ corruption case.
The DA’s probe centered on Metropolis Corridor’s leasing of economic properties, the New York Instances first reported. These investigators additionally seized the telephones of 4 others, together with prime metropolis actual property official Jesse Hamilton and Diana Boutross, a personal dealer concerned in metropolis leases, sources informed The Submit.
After the airport shock, Lewis-Martin made the gorgeous, if characteristically combative, step of showing on Aidala’s radio present to defend herself.
“We’re imperfect, however we’re not thieves, and I do imagine that ultimately, that the New York Metropolis public will see that now we have not achieved something unlawful to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal authorities and the DA workplace to analyze us,” she mentioned.
Lewis-Martin has served as Adams’ prime adviser in Metropolis Corridor, and she or he as soon as described herself as his closest ally and — as she as soon as informed the New York Instances — the mayor’s “sister ordained by God.”
However the pair’s decades-long relationship has turn out to be strained in current months, as sources informed The Submit the once-inseparable duo have barely spoken.
Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned from Metropolis Corridor on Sunday, a few month earlier than she was scheduled to stop.
The bribery expenses additionally put a highlight on her son, DJ Suave Luciano.
Past brunch gigs and releasing booty-bumping music movies to his 79 YouTube subscribers, DJ Suave Luciano has carried out at Rise Up NYC concert events and different metropolis gigs.
Lewis-Martin launched her son throughout a June reception celebrating Caribbean-American heritage by cracking a joke that the DJ was working the city-run occasion at no cost.
“He all the time volunteers,” she mentioned. “They attempt to write us up within the papers, however he doesn’t take any cash. He’s a volunteer. Simply saying that.”
The indictment additionally proved embarrassing for Dwivedi’s picture as a hotelier catering to the wealthy.
Dwivedi’s portfolio consists of The Maidstone lodge and The Capri Southampton, two luxurious Hamptons motels.
He manages the Capri on behalf of celeb legal professional Mark Geragos, whose daughter Teny Geragos is Dwivedi’s lawyer.
She informed The Submit Wednesday evening that Bragg “has an incomplete and inaccurate view of the info.”
“We stay up for setting the report straight and proving Mr Dwivedi’s full innocence,” she mentioned.
— Further reporting by Ronny Reyes
