By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-19 19:19:55 | Updated at 2024-12-29 01:51:05
1 week ago
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the brash consigliere of embattled Mayor Eric Adams, was accused Thursday of trading favors for two New York City hoteliers in exchange for bribes — including a $100,000 loan for her DJ son to buy a Porsche.
The highly anticipated indictment in Manhattan Supreme Court levels bribery charges against Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn Martin II, hotelier Mayank Dwivedi and real estate investor Raizada Vaid.
“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in a long-running bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy scheme by using her position and authority as the Chief Advisor to the Mayor of the City of New York to illegally influence Department of Buildings and other city decisions in exchange for more than $100,000 in cash and benefits for herself and her son, Glenn Martin II,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
Lewis-Martin, 63, allegedly expedited permit hold-ups with the Glass Ceiling, a rooftop bar near Herald Square, and the Lower East Side’s Hotel on Rivington, court documents state.
Dwivedi and Vaid then gave her son, who goes by the name DJ Suave Luciano, two $50,000 checks, court documents state.
The DJ deposited the cash in an account shared with his public servant mother, and then transferred $50,000 to his business, Suave Productions, before using it to issue a $113,000 cashier’s check to buy a Porsche, prosecutors allege.
Lewis-Martin also allegedly tried to cover up the conspiracy by telling the group to use Signal, a third-party encrypted messaging app, and use coded language, prosecutors said.
She surrendered to authorities early Thursday, arriving at Manhattan Criminal Court wearing a leopard-print top and bold red lipstick.
She and her son, who arrived at court with her, are expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon following a press conference held by Bragg and city Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Stauber.
Manhattan prosecutors and DOI investigators jointly ran the probe into Lewis-Martin, who is a longtime confidante of Adams — and is now the highest-profile city official to face charges since the mayor himself was indicted on federal corruption charges in late September.
Lewis-Martin’s anticipation of criminal charges led to her sudden resignation over the weekend, officials said — as well as a defiant, preemptive Monday news conference with her attorney Arthur Aidala.
The pair lambasted Bragg’s office for allegedly conducting a political prosecution.
“I’m here falsely accused of something,” Lewis-Martin said. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but I know that I was told that it’s something that’s illegal, and I have never done anything illegal in my capacity in government.”
The indictment adds to Adams’ legal problems as multiple criminal investigations close in on his inner circle, with the mayor facing unprecedented federal bribery and corruption charges by Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Lewis-Martin had avoided the embarrassing federal raids and subpoenas that befell many of her colleagues — that is, until she returned from a vacation to Japan in late September.
State and federal authorities were waiting for Lewis-Martin when her plane landed at JFK Airport, with the DA investigators taking her phone and feds slapping her with a subpoena for testimony in Adams’ corruption case.
The DA’s probe centered on City Hall’s leasing of commercial properties, the New York Times first reported. Those investigators also seized the phones of four others, including top city real estate official Jesse Hamilton and Diana Boutross, a private broker involved in city leases, sources told The Post.
After the airport surprise, Lewis-Martin made the stunning, if characteristically combative, step of appearing on Aidala’s radio show to defend herself.
“We are imperfect, but we’re not thieves, and I do believe that in the end, that the New York City public will see that we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA office to investigate us,” she said.
Lewis-Martin has served as Adams’ top adviser in City Hall, and she once described herself as his closest ally and — as she once told the New York Times — the mayor’s “sister ordained by God.”
But the pair’s decades-long relationship has become strained in recent months, as sources told The Post the once-inseparable duo have barely spoken.
Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned from City Hall on Sunday, about a month before she was scheduled to quit.
The bribery charges also put a spotlight on her son, DJ Suave Luciano.
Beyond brunch gigs and releasing booty-bumping music videos to his 79 YouTube subscribers, DJ Suave Luciano has performed at Rise Up NYC concerts and other city gigs.
Lewis-Martin introduced her son during a June reception celebrating Caribbean American heritage by cracking a joke that the DJ was working the city-run event for free.
“He always volunteers,” she said. “They try to write us up in the papers, but he doesn’t take any money. He’s a volunteer. Just saying that.”
The indictment also proved embarrassing for Dwivedi’s image as a hotelier catering to the rich.
Dwivedi’s portfolio includes the Maidstone hotel and the Capri Southampton, two luxurious Hamptons hotels.
He manages the Capri on behalf of celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, whose daughter Teny Geragos is Dwivedi’s lawyer.
She told The Post Wednesday night that Bragg “has an incomplete and inaccurate view of the facts.”
“We look forward to setting the record straight and proving Mr. Dwivedi’s complete innocence,” she said.
Additional reporting by Ronny Reyes
