By Canadian Press

Former top aide to New York City’s mayor expected in court on criminal charges, AP source says

Dec 18, 2024 | 2:15 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — A former top aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected in court Thursday to face corruption charges in the latest blow to an administration beset by searches, resignations and the mayor’s own indictment.

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned Sunday as Adams’ chief adviser and one of the most powerful officials in City Hall, is expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in state court in Manhattan, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. The specific charges against Lewis-Martin were not publicly announced and remain unclear.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the commissioner of the city’s watchdog Department of Investigation, Jocelyn Strauber, have scheduled a news conference for Thursday afternoon. The topic was not announced.

Bragg and Strauber’s offices have been investigating Lewis-Martin. Phone messages seeking comment were left for spokespeople for both of them.

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Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, told reporters this week that she was expected to face criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts.

Lewis-Martin said Monday that she was 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.”

The charges against Lewis-Martin come as the Adams administration has been roiled by criminal investigations.

Adams, a Democrat, has himself been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges in an unrelated federal case scheduled for trial next April. He has pleaded not guilty.

Lewis-Martin, 63, has been one of the mayor’s closest confidants throughout his political career, serving in senior roles under Adams as he ascended the ranks of government in New York over the past nearly two decades. Her most recent post as Adams’ chief adviser made her one of the top officials at City Hall.

She has been a target of investigators since at least September, when federal and Manhattan prosecutors met her at an airport in New York as she was getting off a flight from Japan. At the time, federal prosecutors served her with a subpoena while Manhattan prosecutors took her phones and searched her home.

Hours after that search, Lewis-Martin appeared on a radio show hosted by Aidala to discuss the investigation, telling her attorney, “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’s office to investigate us.”

Aidala told reporters on Monday that he believed prosecutors in Manhattan were charging Lewis-Martin to get her to cooperate against Adams. In an unrelated news conference that day, Adams described Lewis-Martin as a “longtime friend and sister.”

Adams was charged in September with accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence.

The investigation into Adams became public late last year after federal agents searched the home of his top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs. Lewis-Martin has referred to Suggs as her goddaughter.

Since then, the Adams administration has been enveloped by a series of searches and seizures from investigators, leading to the resignations of top officials, including his police commissioner, schools chancellor, multiple deputy mayors and his director of Asian affairs.

Michael R. Sisak, Anthony Izaguirre And Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press