A new grand jury is reviewing the case of Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who is already facing influence peddling charges, as part of an ongoing investigation into the former chief advisor to the mayor and her associates, lawyers with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Thursday.
Prosecutors are pursuing the possibly of more charges, with ongoing probes that extend beyond the bribery charges Lewis-Martin, the former chief advisor to the mayor, her son and other associates were hit were in December.
Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Moore said he doesn’t expect the grand jury will be “finished with anything” in potential related matters involving Lewis-Martin and her co-defendants at least in the next two months.
Lewis-Martin, a longtime confidant to the mayor, was indicted late last year on charges she used her influence to speed up construction projects on behalf of the two businessmen, who in exchange for her efforts gave her professional DJ son, Glen Martin II, $100,000 for a Porsche and promised to invest in his business ventures, according to the indictment.
She was charged with conspiracy, bribery, bribe receiving and money laundering. Lewis-Martin was charged along with her adult son, who is also known as “Suave Luciano,” Dwivedi, a hotelier, and Vaid, a business partner of Dwivedi. All pleaded not guilty.
Lewis-Martin previously had her phone seized by agents with the DA’s office immediately after she landed at JFK Airport from a trip to Japan.
Jesse Hamilton, a top real estate official for the city, and Diana Boutross, an executive working on the city’s leasing operations, were also on the trip and had their devices taken. The Daily News previously reported that investigators were looking at least in part into Hamilton’s role in the city’s leasing processes.
The court has continued to serve grand jury subpoenas, including to companies of two real estate honcho co-defendants, Pinky Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi, and to American Express, Moore said a Thursday status conference before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel Conviser.
The attorney also outlined the troves of evidence related to ongoing investigations, including documents related to Ulrich’s case for “attorney’s eyes only” so as to prevent the defendants in the case from sharing the materials or information with others who might also be under investigation.
Lewis-Martin was also referenced to in documents connected to ex-Buildings Department head Eric Ulrich’s corruption case. She met with Ulrich and his co-defendants, according to his indictment. She was not accused of any wrongdoing in this case.
Prosecutors have issued 55 subpoenas to date, Moore said, and they are going through evidence including phone and email records, Department of Investigation records, and 776,000 pages released from the mayor’s office in “unreadable format.”
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