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Prosecutors charge former New York City mayor’s top aide Eric Adams Accepted diamond earrings from two real estate developers and then pressured city regulators to speed up construction projects regardless of safety concerns.
In court documents filed Tuesday, prosecutors manhattan They provided new details about one of the bribery schemes they said was carried out by Ingrid Lewis Martin, a close friend of Adams who once served as the No. 2 person in city government.
She resigned in late 2024, shortly after she and her son were accused of accepting more than $100,000 in bribes from two developers, Raizada Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi. All four have pleaded not guilty.
Lewis-Martin was subsequently indicted in August on another bribery charge that accused her of exchanging political favors, including canceling a planned bike lane and steering a shelter contract to a favored developer, in exchange for cash, home improvements and even a speaking role on the TV show “The Godfather of Harlem.” She has also pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Lewis-Martin’s lawyers insist she is simply helping her constituents cut through red tape.
The latest documents expand the initial charges against Lewis-Martin and his son, Glenn D. Martin II, who performs under the stage name DJ Suave Luciano.
According to new court documents, shortly after meeting with Vaid and Dwivedi in 2022, Lewis-Martin received a set of 2-carat diamond earrings worth approximately $3,000 from the developer.
Lewis Martin then pressured city regulators to expedite approvals for the developer’s project, prosecutors said. In one case, prosecutors said, she pushed the acting Department of Buildings commissioner to approve renovation plans for a Vaid-owned Manhattan hotel despite “legitimate safety concerns” raised by building inspectors.
After city regulators agreed to expedite the application, Lewis-Martin texted her son that Vaid would keep him “completely covered. Your(r) fashion line is 100 percent,” according to court documents. Vaid also promised to help Martin II open a Chick-fil-A franchise, prosecutors said.
Lewis Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidara, criticized the length of the document in an email but did not mention its substance.
“We look forward to a robust response to the prosecutor’s 170-page desperate response to our motion to dismiss,” Aidala said. “This is the longest response we have ever seen to a motion and speaks volumes about their insecurity about their case.”
Query Lawyers for Martin II, Vaid and Dwivedi did not return.
Case against Lewis Martin brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggfirst emerged during the scandal-ridden years of the Adams administration. It has nothing to do with Adams’ own indictment on federal corruption charges, which were dismissed by federal prosecutors last year. Ministry of Justice. Adams has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the Lewis-Martin case.
A spokesman for Adams did not respond to inquiries about Lewis Martin’s latest accusation.