Ex-aide to NYC mayor pleads not guilty to new corruption charges

MANHATTAN (CN) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle continues to be plagued by scandal after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced new conspiracy charges Thursday against the mayor’s former top aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

Lewis-Martin, who is no longer Adams’ chief adviser but remains a volunteer on his reelection campaign, was already charged at the end of 2024 with taking bribes to fast-track building projects for New York City businessmen. But the fresh charges on Wednesday bolster prosecutors’ case, with accusations Lewis-Martin accepted gifts like catering, cash and even a speaking role on a TV drama in exchange for her political influence.

“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in classic bribery conspiracies that had a deep and wide-ranging impact on city government,” Bragg said in a statement Thursday. “As alleged, Lewis-Martin consistently overrode the expertise of public servants so she could line her own pockets.”

“While she allegedly received more than $75,000 in bribes and an appearance on a TV show, every other New Yorker lost out,” Bragg added. “Hardworking city employees were undermined, businesses and developers who followed the law were pushed aside, and the public was victimized by corruption at the highest levels of government.”

Bragg charged Lewis-Martin in four separate conspiracy indictments alongside eight other defendants. She and her co-defendants, which include her son and various New York companies and business owners, were whisked into court Thursday in handcuffs by a horde of police officers, where they each pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

“If you were willing to pay, Ms. Martin was open for business,” Assistant District Attorney Guy Tardanico said Thursday as Lewis-Martin was being arraigned. “She betrayed the public trust in favor of a select few.”

In one indictment, prosecutors claim Lewis-Martin conspired to steer city contracts for immigrant shelter sites to preferred property owners and expedited permit approvals for a karaoke bar in Queens. In exchange, they say Lewis-Martin’s son Suave Luciano received $50,000, which was diverted from a city contract.

Prosecutors claim in another indictment that Lewis-Martin killed the city’s plans to install bike lanes on McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn to benefit production company Broadway Stages and its owners, Gina and Anthony Argento. For that favor, she got a speaking role on Hulu’s “Godfather of Harlem” in 2022.

Prosecutors say she tried to leverage her political power two years later for another TV appearance that never came to fruition.

“In a phone call on May 9, 2024, Ingrid Lewis-Martin told Anthony ‘Tony’ Argento that she ‘really wanna go on “Blue Bloods,’” which is filmed at Broadway Stages,” prosecutors say in the indictment.

The Argentos also gifted more than $10,000 worth of catering services to Lewis-Martin for a 2024 event she was holding at Gracie Mansion, according to that indictment.

A third indictment charges Lewis-Martin and another City Hall official, the deputy commissioner for real estate services Jesse Hamilton, with conspiring to fast-track development projects in exchange for renovations on their homes.

In the fourth indictment, Lewis-Martin is accused of taking more catering services in exchange for getting a residential renovation project approved.

Across the four indictments, Lewis-Martin faces four counts of fourth-degree conspiracy and four counts of second-degree bribe receiving. Her son faces two counts each of the same charges.

Arthur Aidala, Lewis-Martin’s attorney, maintains his client’s innocence and insists that “she has broken no laws and she is not guilty.”

“Despite a lifetime of service as a law-abiding public servant, Ingrid is being forced to enter court with little information,” Aidala said in a statement Wednesday ahead of the indictments’ release. “What she does know is this: she has always served the city with integrity, and she will firmly plead not guilty to every charge.”

The charges come at an inopportune time for the New York City mayor, who is not accused of crimes in these new indictments, but is still attempting to recover from the fallout of his own now-dismissed federal bribery case and persistent claims of corruption within his administration.

“Mayor Adams was not involved in this matter and has not been accused of or implicated in any wrongdoing,” Adams’ press secretary Kayla Altus said in a statement Thursday. “He remains focused on what has always been his priority — serving the 8.5 million New Yorkers who call this city home and making their city safer and more affordable every single day. Ingrid Lewis-Martin no longer works for this administration.”

Lewis-Martin, who was once nicknamed “The Lioness of City Hall,” was widely considered to be Adams’ second-in-command until she unceremoniously left office prior to her 2024 indictment. She has been a close friend to Adams for more than four decades, and was a driving force behind his political ascent from police captain to mayor.

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