Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former top aide to New York Mayor Eric Adams, expects to be indicted on criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts, her lawyer said Monday.
Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned Sunday as Adams' chief adviser, the latest departure from an administration that has been enveloped in criminal investigations. The mayor’s office called it a planned retirement.
Lewis-Martin's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told reporters at a news conference Monday that she had been invited to speak with the grand jury considering charges but declined because the outcome of the investigation appeared to be predetermined. The case involves gifts given to Lewis-Martin, he said, but declined to discuss further details, while claiming — without providing evidence — that the case was politically motivated.
“To say that this doesn’t have to do with politics is just naive,” Aidala said as he sat alongside Lewis-Martin at his office in Manhattan.
Aidala said that he offered to have Lewis-Martin speak to prosecutors after media reports emerged about the grand jury but that the Manhattan district attorney's office turned them down.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
“I’m here falsely accused of something; I don't know what it is,” Lewis-Martin told reporters.
Her decision leave office comes as Adams faces federal corruption charges and several members of his administration have come under investigation. Adams himself has been charged with accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. He has pleaded not guilty.
Lewis-Martin’s phones were seized and her home was searched in late September by prosecutors in Manhattan, who, along with federal prosecutors, met her at an airport in New York as she was getting off a flight from Japan.
Hours after the search, Lewis-Martin took the extraordinary step of appearing on Aidala’s radio show to discuss the investigation, telling her attorney, “I do believe that in the end that the New York City public will see that we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.”
Lewis-Martin has been one of the mayor’s most trusted and longest-serving aides, working under Adams in prominent positions throughout his political career — when he was a state senator, Brooklyn borough president and mayor. She has said she first met Adams about four decades ago, when Adams and her husband, Glenn Martin, were in the New York City police academy.
Adams, in a statement, said, “Ingrid has not been just a friend, a confidant, and trusted advisor, but also a sister."
“We’ve always talked about when this day would come, and while we’ve long planned for it, it is still hard to know that Ingrid won’t be right next door every day,” he added.
Lewis-Martin, in the statement from City Hall, said that her time alongside Adams has been an “amazing ride” but that “now, today, the time has come for me to focus on my wonderful family and myself and retire.”
“To my city: I started as a community activist and worked on many campaigns, ultimately landing at City Hall. I am a native New Yorker, and I love my city. Know that I will continue to do everything in my power to fight for this great city every day as a private citizen,” she said.
