Mayor Eric Adams’ longtime advisor and confidante, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, resigned on Sunday amid allegations of bribery and corruption.
Manhattan prosecutors recently presented evidence to a grand jury and are expected to indict Lewis-Martin in the coming days. Sources revealed that the inquiry has focused on potential bribery and money laundering charges in connection to the city’s leasing of commercial properties.
Lewis-Martin has emphatically denied the charges, telling reporters at a press conference that she is being falsely accused.Â
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office started the inquiry into Lewis-Martin in September, serving her with a subpoena and seizing her phone shortly after Mayor Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges. Investigators also seized the phones of four other individuals with ties to Lewis-Martin, one of whom was Gina Argento, a Broadway Stages executive and Brooklyn Community Board 1 member. Gina Argento and her brother Tony Argento are prominent Adams donors.Â
The New York Times story shares that Gina Argento had appeared on Lewis-Martin’s schedule several times. Argento’s lawyer and husband, John J. Ciafone, told the paper that Argento was being targeted due to Broadway Stages’ opposition to the McGuinness Boulevard redesign plan (the business had bankrolled a last-ditch oppositional campaign against the project).Â
The McGuinness Boulevard saga’s role in a potential bribery case against Lewis-Martin is not yet clear. The city’s Department of Transportation planned to proceed with the redesign in 2023 when Adams suddenly halted the decision and asked them to return to the drawing board. Reporting from multiple outlets revealed that Lewis-Martin, a vehement critic of street safety projects, pressured Adams to scrap the redesign. This past October, the mayor’s office reversed course again, giving the project the greenlight, mere days after authorities subpoenaed Lewis-Martin.
It is not the first time that the Argento family has faced some scrutiny over ties to a mayor’s office. In 2016, the Times reported that a federal inquiry had investigated Gina Argento concerning a possible straw-donor scheme for former mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign. The investigation did not uncover sufficient evidence to implicate anyone; Ciafone denied any wrongdoing on Argento’s behalf.
“Ms. Martin Lewis has been a friend for a long time, and we are hoping for the best,” Gina Argento told Greenpointers via a spokesperson. “We know that she will be seen and known as the wonderful, civic-minded person that she always has been.”
Great scoop. Can somebody tell me an aide to this alleged serial felon Adams that is not under investigation?
An elephant in the room that the press gave Adams a pass on is that he is the King of privilege also.
Adams talks a great deal but does very little.
So far he has been the king of privilege/discrimination.
Telling whites to move out of Black areas and go back to Iowa.
Makes the first six deputy mayors women.
Lets elite basketball players avoid covid shots but not city workers.
Stating since I am Black, I know how to run Rikers.
In a recent ceremony noted that the hero cops were not white.
Now migrant privilege. Instead of sending them back to Texas, accepts thousands with no plan to put or support them. Now he is kissing Trump’s backside to send them back, after spending billions.
Announcing the great majority of his Jewish advisory board are orthodox men.
Telling the white senior woman who dared to confront Adams, that I are now the Black Master of the plantation and she has to show the master respect.
Tells the Manhattan borough president not to run against him, since it is important to have a Black Mayor and a Black POTUS too.