NEW YORK (AP) — Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former top aide to New York Mayor Eric Adams, expects to be indicted on criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts, her lawyer said Monday.
Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned Sunday as Adams' chief adviser, the latest departure from an administration that has been enveloped in criminal investigations. The mayor’s office called it a planned retirement.
Lewis-Martin's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told reporters at a news conference Monday that she had been invited to speak with the grand jury considering charges but declined because the outcome of the investigation appeared to be predetermined. The case involves gifts given to Lewis-Martin, he said, but declined to discuss further details, while claiming — without providing evidence — that the case was politically motivated.
“To say that this doesn’t have to do with politics is just naive,” Aidala said as he sat alongside Lewis-Martin at his office in Manhattan.
Aidala said that he offered to have Lewis-Martin speak to prosecutors after media reports emerged about the grand jury but that the Manhattan district attorney's office turned them down.
“I’m here falsely accused of something; I don't know what it is,” Lewis-Martin told reporters, adding, “And during my tenure, I have never taken any gifts, money, anything. I have 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.”
Her decision to leave office comes as Adams faces federal corruption charges and several members of his administration have come under investigation. Adams himself has been charged with accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. He has pleaded not guilty.
Aidala said he believed Manhattan prosecutors were targeting Martin in an effort to get her to cooperate against Adams. She would likely be indicted alongside others, he added, without specifying who else might face charges.
“Pieces of puzzles are going to be put together to make it look as horrible as possible,” Aidala said. “But we know the truth, and the truth is Ingrid Lewis-Martin never broke the law.”
Lewis-Martin’s phones were seized and her home was searched in late September by prosecutors in Manhattan, who, along with federal prosecutors, met her at an airport in New York as she was getting off a flight from Japan.
Hours after the search, Lewis-Martin took the extraordinary step of appearing on Aidala’s radio show 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.”
Lewis-Martin has been one of the mayor’s most trusted and longest-serving aides, working under Adams in prominent positions throughout his political career — when he was a state senator, Brooklyn borough president and mayor. She has said she first met Adams about four decades ago, when Adams and her husband, Glenn Martin, were in the New York City police academy.
Adams, in a statement, said, “Ingrid has not been just a friend, a confidant, and trusted advisor, but also a sister."
“We’ve always talked about when this day would come, and while we’ve long planned for it, it is still hard to know that Ingrid won’t be right next door every day,” he added.
Lewis-Martin, in the statement from City Hall, said that her time alongside Adams has been an “amazing ride” but that “now, today, the time has come for me to focus on my wonderful family and myself and retire.”
