Ingrid-Lewis Martin, the former chief adviser to Mayor Adams who suddenly resigned over the weekend amid news she’s expected to be indicted this week, denied she has broken the law at a press conference Monday.
“I am here falsely accused of something; 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. I’ve worked in government for over 35 years, in all three branches, federal, state and city. I’ve worked at the lowest level to some optimum levels,” Lewis-Martin told reporters at her lawyer Arthur Aidala’s Midtown law firm.
“During my tenure, I have never taken any gifts, money — anything.”
Aidala said he expected Lewis-Martin to be hit with charges this week, claiming, “She never did anything more than her job for anything more than her salary.” He said he believed the charges would relate to “improper gifts.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is presenting evidence about Lewis-Martin to a grand jury and is expected to be nearing asking the panel to vote on an indictment. Aidala said she declined to provide testimony to grand jurors but asked to speak with the DA’s office outside of the panel’s presence in a denied request.
“It is a tremendous risk, and she didn’t feel she would get a fair shake,” Aidala said.
News of potential charges broke hours after Lewis-Martin announced her immediate resignation early Sunday in a statement thanking the mayor for “encouraging me to be my authentic self and for having my back during some trying times.”
What charges she could face are unclear, and the DA’s office has declined to comment on or confirm the grand jury investigation.
The New York Times reported Sunday that prosecutors are also looking into Lewis-Martin’s son, Glenn Martin II, who has DJ’d at Gracie Mansion, Mayank Dwivedi, a hotelier who operates multiple properties in the city and the Hamptons and an associate of Dwivedi.
The development that Lewis-Martin, 63, was being scrutinized by law enforcement emerged in late September when state and federal investigators stopped her at Kennedy Airport as she returned from a trip to Japan.
Obtained by Daily News
Manhattan DA investigators search Lewis-Martin’s Brooklyn home in September. (Obtained by Daily News)
Manhattan DA investigators seized her cell phone at the airport and informed her they were searching her Brooklyn home. Federal prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office subpoenaed her to testify a day after unsealing a five-count indictment against the mayor alleging he sold his political influence to wealthy Turkish officials.
Jesse Hamilton, a former state senator now who manages the city’s vast real estate portfolio, and Diana Boutross, a top broker at the Cushman & Wakefield real estate firm, were also on the trip and had their phones seized, The News previously reported.
Boutross’ firm is one of two real estate companies that serve as the Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ licensed brokers in dealings with private property owners. It wasn’t clear whether the charges expected this week will concern Hamilton and Boutross, who have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Sources on Sunday told the Daily News a split began to emerge between Lewis-Martin and the mayor after she went on Aidala’s radio show, “The Arthur Aidala Power Hour,” after her run-in with law enforcement at the airport. One said they hadn’t spoken for weeks before her sudden resignation.
During the radio interview, Lewis-Martin said she believed the public would see “we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.” Sources said the comment angered Adams for suggesting criminal activity had occurred.
