Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg has introduced the indictments of at the very least three folks in Mayor Eric Adams’s internal circle. This comes as the newest in a collection of allegations towards quite a few folks in Adams administration over the previous couple of years.
Among the many seven folks indicted by the DA’s workplace have been former chief of workers and the mayor’s closest advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin; her son, Glenn D. Martin II; and former State Senator Jesse Hamilton, who was deputy commissioner of actual property providers for the Division of Citywide Administrative Providers.
“Ingrid is sort of a sister to me. I like Ingrid,” stated Adams at a press convention on August 22. “She’s labored with me for over 40 years. I served as a police officer together with her husband. I do know her son, and I do know her, and I do know her coronary heart. And he or she and her legal professional will take care of the case that’s in entrance of her. My prayers are with Ingrid, and I want her the perfect.”
Adams was not charged, and vowed to not intrude with the investigations into his former members of workers.
In September 2024, Lewis-Martin, Hamilton, and others took a private journey collectively to Japan. She resigned from her function shortly after, in December 2024, however continued to volunteer for Adams’s mayoral reelection marketing campaign.
Lewis-Martin was indicted for accepting greater than $75,000 in bribes, together with $50,000 in money directed to her son’s account, between March 2022 and November 2024 whereas serving as chief advisor to the mayor, in accordance with the DA’s workplace. The 2 allegedly conspired to steer metropolis contracts for asylum seeker shelter websites for developer Tian Ji Li’s most popular property homeowners; fast-tracked allow approvals for a karaoke bar for Li in Queens; and conspired to have the transportation division withdraw its approval for protected bike lanes on McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn for cash, catering, and a talking function on TV reveals like “Godfather of Harlem” and “Blue Bloods.”
“We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in traditional bribery conspiracies that had a deep and wide-ranging influence on Metropolis authorities,” stated Bragg in a press release. “As alleged, Lewis-Martin constantly overrode the experience of public servants so she might line her personal pockets.”
Hamilton, Lewis-Martin, and her son are accused of attempting to fast-track growth initiatives in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx on behalf of actual property developer Yechiel Landau in change for renovations on their houses, stated the DA’s workplace.
Because the announcement of the indictment, Hamilton has resigned from his place with the town.
The brand new indictments got here simply after Winnie Greco, one other former Adams adviser who needed to resign from his administration however was nonetheless engaged on his marketing campaign, received in bother for handing a reporter a potato chip bag stuffed with money at a marketing campaign occasion.
“I’m not going to intrude in any method with the method,” stated Adams. “Our communications with the district legal professional’s workplace indicated that by no means am I concerned in any of the critiques that they’re conducting on this method.”
Adams is not any stranger to being investigated. His administration was underneath intense scrutiny from federal Manhattan prosecutors due to alleged fraud in his 2021 mayoral marketing campaign again in 2023. There was a collection of raids, subpoenas, resignations, and indictments that noticed a number of of Adams’s prime officers and company heads abruptly resign from their positions. He confronted his personal indictment in September 2024 on a five-count felony cost.
After months of Adams’s rising connection to President Donald Trump and signing off on the Republicans’ mass deportation agenda, a federal decide moved to dismiss Adams’s case in April.
“I’ve dedicated my life to this metropolis, as a police officer, as a state senator, as a borough president, and now as your mayor,” Adams stated. “We now have not all the time gotten it proper, however now we have by no means stopped being devoted to the folks of this metropolis. And I’m going to proceed to try this so long as you permit me to take action.”
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, who was appointed in March of this 12 months, didn’t remark in regards to the specifics of any case on the press convention. He defended Adams, saying that the indictments are getting used to “smear” him and his administration.
“I’ve stood by this mayor’s facet for the previous 5 months. We discuss on daily basis. We discuss easy methods to resolve points, easy methods to tackle questions,” stated Mastro. “There’s not a single time when he’s given me a route that wasn’t in the perfect pursuits of the town. And the individuals who work on this constructing, who’re so devoted — I can not let you know how proud I’m to be their colleague.”
Adams is in the midst of operating for reelection as an Unbiased within the upcoming normal election this November. He’s up towards Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
“The folks that you just put your religion and your belief in [are] a mirrored image of your individual management,” stated Mamdani in his remarks. “That Adams continued to affiliate himself with Winnie Greco, with Ingrid, after so many clear examples of their corruption — it showcases what he’s prepared to sacrifice, and that’s the public.”
His opponents all seized on the chance to criticize Adams and his marketing campaign, calling his administration “corrupt.”
Adams pushed again laborious towards his mayoral competitors in response: “I’m not going to depart this metropolis to a beret-wearing, carnival show,” he stated. “I’m not going to depart it to an individual who put harmful legal guidelines on the books that damage us, from hashish to bail reform to fifteen,000 nursing houses demise. I’m not going to depart this metropolis to somebody that wishes legalized prostitution on our streets. I’m not going to depart this metropolis to somebody that doesn’t perceive what it’s to run a metropolis [and who] went from being a rapper to an assemblyman and now needs to be the mayor of probably the most advanced metropolis. We’ve come too far to go backward. That’s not going to occur.”
