Ingrid Lewis-Martin, once former Mayor Eric Adams’ closest advisor, faces a wide variety of pending criminal charges, including allegations that she accepted bribes from two developers in exchange for making their problems with city building inspectors disappear.
In none of those schemes did prosecutors allege that her meddling could have put the public in danger.
Until now.
In court papers filed Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg detailed concerns raised by a top buildings department official who was concerned that a planned hotel renovation Lewis-Martin was pushing was potentially unsafe. According to the official, the developer ignored demands from the Department of Buildings for information on whether the hotel had adequate egress to meet fire safety rules.
The filings by Bragg were made in response to motions by Lewis-Martin’s defense team to dismiss the case against her.
Lewis-Martin currently faces two separate indictments alleging she accepted a variety of bribes from developers and business owners in exchange for using her influence as the mayor’s chief advisor to smooth over issues with various city agencies, particularly the Department of Buildings. She resigned in December 2024, days before her first indictment was unsealed.
The new filings also expand the laundry list of alleged bribes Lewis-Martin accepted to include a pair of diamond earrings worth $3,000, gifted to her by the two developers she was allegedly helping.
That’s in addition to a catalog of alleged bribes already outlined in both indictments: cash, thousands of dollars in free catering for events she hosted at Gracie Mansion and a speaking role in a TV series.
In the first indictment, prosecutors charged her with bribery and money laundering, describing a scheme in which Lewis-Martin arranged to have two developers steer $100,000 into a joint bank account she shared with her aspiring rapper son, Glenn Martin II, who then used the money to buy a Porsche.
The two developers, Raizada “Pinky” Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi, had requested Lewis-Martin’s assistance to expedite approval of building permits on their construction projects, including a boutique hotel dubbed the Hotel Rivington on the Lower East Side and the building of a rooftop bar called the Glass Ceiling.
Their relationship with her began at the very start of the Adams administration when they purchased a pair of 2-carat diamond earrings worth $3,000 for her, prosecutors revealed in the new court filings handed to the court Tuesday.
In the new filings, the DA revealed that a top buildings department official had raised concerns about safety issues with the construction of the Glass Ceiling that had been flagged earlier by inspectors. At the time, Lewis-Martin was repeatedly pressuring the then-acting DOB commissioner, Kazimir Vilenchik, to expedite approval of the project.
Minutes after receiving a text from Lewis-Martin stating “Need to move this forward,” Vilenchik emailed the Manhattan Borough Commissioner at DOB stating a “new examiner” needs to be assigned. Within an hour of Lewis-Martin’s communication, a new examiner was assigned to the Glass Ceiling project.
About a week later, DOB approved the permit for the Glass Ceiling. Then Lewis-Martin began pressuring Vilenchik to approve the Rivington Hotel project, despite an inspector’s red-flagging missing information about occupancy rates in plans submitted by the hotel’s architect. She emailed him that the project was “stuck.”
In a December 2022 email to Vilenchik, the Manhattan Borough Commissioner noted the connection of the Rivington Hotel to the Glass Ceiling project, stating “Hopefully the inquirer’s description as stuck is not an attempt to circumvent the process.”
Vilenchik continued to pressure DOB to approve a certificate of occupancy on the hotel project, according to the court filing. But in January 2023, the Manhattan Borough Commissioner pushed back, writing that the developer was continuing to ignore DOB’s demand for information on the occupancy load of the hotel and potential impact on whether the hotel had adequate egress required by the FDNY.
The developer’s “promise to show me detail and then his waiting to resubmit in a different way concerns me,” the Manhattan Borough Commissioner wrote.
Prosecutors said the mail was “significant” in part because it informed Vilenchik that “there were legitimate safety concerns as to whether the proposed changes impacted occupancy load and means of egress.”
The architect ultimately submitted an amended plan without the requested information, and DOB approved the plan in March 2023.
In the second indictment filed against her last summer, prosecutors say the owners of Broadway Stages, Gina and Tony Argento, arranged for her to have a brief speaking role in a TV series, “Godfather of Harlem,” which was filmed at the company’s studios.
Her end of the bargain involved pressuring the Department of Transportation commissioner to terminate a planned bike lane on McGuinness Boulevard that the Argentos vehemently opposed.
Much of the discussion regarding the McGuinness Boulevard bike lane and other alleged schemes was secretly recorded by law enforcement, who had been tapping Lewis-Martin’s phones since September 2022.
In one exchange, Lewis-Martin ridiculed supporters of the bike lane, writing, “We do not care what they say. We are ignoring them and continuing with our plan. They can kiss my ass.”
In another, Lewis-Martin discussed how developers she was helping could financially back her son’s acquisition of a Chick-Fil-A franchise.
“Your sister’s gonna be rich!” she proclaimed at one point, the indictment states.
Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, did not immediately respond to THE CITY’s inquiry about the DA’s new court filing.
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