Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the former chief adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, was charged on Thursday for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes during her time in City Hall.
One of several people listed in four separate conspiracy indictments, Lewis-Martin faces charges in connection with the cash payouts between March 2022 and November 2024. Her son Glenn Martin II, who allegedly received $50,000 in his bank account from his mother, is also indicted.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed the latest indictments after a December 2024 indictment charging Lewis-Martin and her son with accepting more than $100,000, bringing the total in bribes to more than $175,000. Lewis-Martin resigned following the initial indictment.
“Lewis-Martin consistently overrode the expertise of public servants so she could line her own pockets,” Bragg said in a statement. “While she allegedly received more than $75,000 in bribes and an appearance on a TV show, every other New Yorker lost out.”
The former Adams aide secured an acting appearance on the crime series Godfather of Harlem in 2022 and also tried to get on the police procedural Blue Bloods last year, one of the indictments alleges. She also managed to get over $10,000 in catering expenses for an event at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, paid by one of the codefendants last year.
The personal benefits were provided as a form of repayment to Lewis-Martin, who allegedly conspired to get the New York City Department of Transportation to withdraw its approval for redesigning the traffic and bike lanes on a Brooklyn street.
She also allegedly conspired to help fast-track permit approvals for a Queens karaoke bar in exchange for the $50,000 cash payment to her son, according to another indictment.
In addition to the mother-son duo, the defendants included former New York State Sen. Jesse Hamilton, whom Adams appointed to oversee the city’s real estate operations; Gina and Tony Argento, siblings who helped get Lewis-Martin on television and paid for the catering services; and two businessmen.
Lewis-Martin faces four counts of conspiracy in the fourth degree and four counts of receiving bribes in the second degree. The codefendants face similar charges.
Bragg’s office collaborated with the New York City Department of Investigation on the indictments.
“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 said. “New Yorkers are fortunate to be served by thousands of hardworking City employees who embody the dignity of public service.”
The new revelations come months before Adams is up for reelection as an independent.
In response to the charges, a spokesperson for Adams told the New York Times that the mayor “was not involved in this matter and has not been accused of or implicated in any wrongdoing” and that Lewis-Martin “no longer works” for him.
Adams faced criminal charges of his own at the federal level, but that case was dismissed with prejudice by a judge earlier this year. Adams continues his reelection bid against a packed field that includes socialist front-runner Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
ERIC ADAMS CAMPAIGN ADVISER SUSPENDED AFTER GIVING REPORTER POTATO CHIP BAG FILLED WITH CASH
The Adams administration has been mired in investigations for quite some time, and his campaign has similarly faced controversy.
Adams’s reelection campaign adviser, Winnie Greco, was suspended on Wednesday after she handed a reporter over $100 in cash stashed inside a potato chip bag. Greco, who worked in City Hall before transitioning to the reelection campaign, was one of several officials whose homes were raided by the FBI last year as part of a federal investigation into possible Chinese interference in the 2021 mayoral race that Adams won.