Earlier today, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced charges against Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the former Chief Advisor to Mayor Eric Adams; her son, Glenn D. Martin II; and real estate investors Raizada Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi for an alleged bribery scheme that involved paying Lewis-Martin to “illegally influence” the Department of Buildings (DOB) thanks to her position in City Hall. The move comes as Mayor Adams, who has a friendship with Lewis-Martin going back decades, is facing federal bribery and corruption charges of his own. Lewis-Martin and her son both surrendered to the D.A.’s office early this morning to face arraignment, along with Vaid and Dwivedi.
“The indictment unsealed today can be summarized in 3 words,” Bragg said in a press conference this afternoon. “Quid pro quo.” Bragg explained the state’s case against the defendants, alleging that Lewis-Martin received over $100,000 in “cash and benefits” from Vaid and Dwivedi, owners of the Glass Ceiling bar in Herald Square and the Hotel on Rivington in the Lower East Side, who had construction permits pending with DOB. According to the Department of Investigations Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber, who collaborated with Bragg’s office on this case, that money was given with the expectation that Lewis-Martin “expedite their applications and assist with rejected applications, without regard to safety considerations or the Department of Buildings’ expertise.” According to Bragg, “each time she received an ask, she complied.”
The prosecutors allege that $100,000 was given to the mayor’s Chief Advisor in two $50,000 checks from the Vaid and Dwivedi, which were deposited in a joint bank account with her son Glenn. He then transferred $50,000 of that money into his company, Suave Productions. That money then went towards the purchase of a $113,000 Porsche.
Bragg and Strauber also detailed how Lewis-Martin tried to conceal her actions by using the encrypted messaging app Signal. They allege that she instructed those participating in her scheme to use coded language to avoid being noticed when not using the app to alert her that she had messages to check there: “Next time just text me ‘trying to reach you[’] and I will Look for it.”
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned from Adams’ administration abruptly last Sunday in the face of these charges, had been in his political inner circle since he was elected to the State Senate in 2007, where she was his Chief of Staff. She has courted controversy many times throughout Adams’ tenure as mayor, with the New York Times reporting last year that she had a “penchant for overriding other officials on even minor issues” that divided City Hall, with her influence over Adams being second to none. “She is the Adams administration,” a rival political operative told New York magazine last year. “It is Brooklyn clubhouse politics brought to the whole city. And every dispute is a personal fucking bloodbath.”
Lewis-Martin and her son are charged with Bribe Receiving in the First Degree and Money Laundering in the Third Degree, while Vaid and Dwivedi are each charged with Bribery in the First Degree. All are charged with Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree.
