Add to the legal hazard that his administration faces in a tight election season by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in the United States by releasing four indictments against a senior associate of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, her son Glenn Martin II, and seven other defendants were charged on Thursday with what the prosecutor’s office described as a “wide-range series of bribery conspiracies.”
Lewis-Martin, who was previously referred to as the “Lioness of City Hall,” was Adams’ chief adviser. However, as a result of a corruption investigation, she resigned in December.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Lewis-Martin of ignoring the needs of New York City residents over her personal interests in a statement.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin allegedly conspired against the law in a classic bribery plot that had a significant and broad impact on the city government, according to Bragg in the statement.
Lewis-Martin consistently outperformed public servants’ abilities so she could afford her own expenses. Every other New Yorker allegedly lost out, despite receiving more than $75, 000 in bribes and a TV appearance.
The mayoral residence in New York City’s Gracie Mansion was recently roiled by the indictments on Thursday.
Former police officer Adams, who took office in 2022, has had a series of scandals that have eroded his standing in the public.
As Adams campaigns for re-election in the 2025 mayoral election, which is scheduled for November, that has turned out to be fodder for his rivals.
The Democratic Party’s support for Adams and the opposition to Zohran Mamdani’s nomination as the winner are seen as decisive tests for the party, according to Republican president Donald Trump.
Inside the scandals
In response to corruption scandals, Lewis-Martin is one of several senior Adams aides who have since resigned.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office initially indicted her and her son, a music producer who works under the name Suave Luciano, shortly after she left the Adams administration in December.
It claimed they “traded on the access and influence of her position” from real estate developers for more than $100 000 in checks and cash.
Lewis-Martin and her son were charged with accepting the payment in exchange for assisting with rejected application submissions and obtaining construction permits sooner.
According to the indictment, those decisions were made “without regard to safety considerations or the Department of Buildings’ expertise.”
Lewis-Martin and Martin II are both facing similar bribery charges in the most recent indictments. In one instance, the district attorney accuses them of quickly implementing a Department of Buildings residential renovation plan in exchange for free catering, including salmon and crab cakes.
In another instance, Lewis-Martin is accused of “interfering” with the owners of a nearby company that provides services for TV and film productions in an effort to please the Department of Transportation’s plans to install bike lanes on a boulevard in New York City.
The production company’s owners allegedly gave Lewis-Martin a speaking role on the TV series Godfather of Harlem in exchange for money and catering services.
According to a third indictment, Lewis-Martin is accused of working to “steer contracts” between associates’ “preferred property owners” for asylum seekers’ shelters.
Lewis-Martin and her son have previously refuted the accusations leveled against them, and their attorneys have argued that the accusations are politically motivated.
The addition of the indictments comes in response to another scandal involving Winnie Greco, one of Adams’ close friends, earlier this week.
Greco was later suspended from Adams’ campaign after giving an article to The City that appeared to be hidden in an envelope of money.
Adams in the limelight
Adams has been charged with bribery and campaign finance fraud.
The US Department of Justice released a criminal indictment against the then-president of New York City in September 2024, making him the first city mayor to face federal charges at the time.
Adams allegedly took bribes and solicited illegal campaign contributions, according to the prosecution. He was accused of “using his position as this City’s highest elected official.”
In one case, the prosecution claimed that Adams had pressured the New York City Fire Department to allow the Turkish consulate to open an office in a neighborhood high rise without conducting a fire inspection in order to prepare it for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit.
Adams allegedly received free or reduced-cost airline travel, luxury hotel accommodations, and free food and entertainment while traveling in Turkey.
Adams was also accused of making “straw” donations for his election campaign by passing money through someone else instead of himself.
Adams has defended his innocence and accused the prosecution of trying to thwart his re-election hopes.
He endorsed President Trump as a Republican in the presidential election of 2021, but he has since changed his mind and become more of an independent.
In the run-up to Trump’s inauguration in January, Adams has met with the soon-to-be president several times, including with Tom Homan, the border czar.
Reversal of an indictment
The Justice Department of Trump’s administration immediately imposed a federal court order removing Adams’ charges. In protest, a number of career prosecutors resigned.
When Hagan Scotten left, one of those prosecutors wrote a lengthy letter to his ex. I anticipate that you will eventually locate someone who can make your motion or is sufficiently foolish. However, I never imagined it would be me.
In April, a judge in New York granted the motion because he could not compel prosecutors to take legal action.
However, the Justice Department’s decision to drop its case was skepticismized by that judge, Dale Ho.
In his decision, Ho remarked, “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”
Relations between Trump and Adams have gotten more strained since that controversy, particularly in the wake of the contentious immigration arrests at New York City courthouses.
Trump has remained vocal about his opposition to Mamdani, Adams’ main rival in the mayoral election of 2025.
Source: Aljazeera
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