Ingrid Lewis Martin, Mayor Adams’ chief advisor and longtime political friend, said: Brooklyn home searched by state authorities On Friday, state and federal agents intercepted her at JFK Airport as she returned from a trip abroad, the Daily News reported.
State investigators from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office seized Lewis Martin’s cell phone at the airport after he arrived in the morning on a flight from Japan. In another action, Federal agents from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office join JFK prosecutors The purpose was to hand over a subpoena to Lewis Martin as he stepped off the plane.
The subpoena requires her to testify and produce documents to the grand jury. The request is related to the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s investigation into Mr. Adams’ ties to Turkey, which was at the center of Thursday’s indictment of the mayor, the people said.
The indictment, filed by U.S. Attorney Damien Williams’ office in Manhattan, charges Adams with soliciting bribes and receiving illegal campaign funds from the Turkish government in exchange for favors. The mayor pleaded not guilty Friday in Manhattan federal court. Williams said the investigation continues after Adams was charged.
Around the same time as JFK’s actions, investigators from Mr. Bragg’s office raided Mr. Lewis Martin’s home in Crown Heights, officials told the News.
After the attack was first reported on the news, NY1 A video has been released Investigators from Bragg’s office wearing vests with the word “POLICE” written on them are shown emerging from Lewis Martin’s home carrying cardboard evidence boxes and duffel bags.
The footage shows a box being carried by an investigator with the word “electronic equipment” written on the side. One of Lewis-Martin’s neighbors later told the News that investigators were at Lewis-Martin’s home for nearly three hours before leaving with a box of evidence.
it wasn’t immediately obvious What kind of investigation led to the DA’s enforcement action?
“MS. As far as we know, Ruiz has not been the target of any incident,” her attorney Arthur Aidala said.
Mr. Aidala said Mr. Lewis Martin was not at home when Mr. Bragg’s investigators showed up. “She wasn’t there, but her family was,” he said, confirming that his client’s home had been searched.
Lewis Martin was vacationing in Japan with Jesse Hamilton, a former state senator and senior official in the Adams administration, officials said.
Spokespeople for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
In a highly unusual appearance on Aidala’s radio show on Friday night, Lewis Martin said he had “a little bit of a verbal exchange” with the agent who stopped him at the airport and accused law enforcement against him. approved the measures. She also acknowledged that it was “not easy” to be exposed to the kind of scrutiny she, the mayor, and other members of the Adams administration are facing.
“We get distracted and sometimes it’s hard to focus,” she said, reversing the mayor’s oft-repeated mantra of “stay focused, don’t get distracted, and work hard.” Ta.
But she added: “We are not thieves, and I believe that ultimately the people of New York City will find that we have not committed any illegal activity of such magnitude or scale that it would require an investigation by the federal government and the Attorney General’s Office.” ”
The raid on Lewis Martin comes as part of a separate federal corruption investigation in which several other Adams administration officials have been raided in recent weeks, including former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who resigned on September 12. This was done following a search and the seizure of equipment.
Lewis Martin, one of the most powerful officials in the Adams administration, dating back to his time as a state senator in the mid-2000s, is seen as one of his most important advisers. The mayor called her his “sister” and acknowledged her important role in the 2021 election. He and his husband worked for the New York City Police Department decades ago.
It’s unclear what prompted Friday’s state enforcement action, but Lewis Martin’s name came up in the context of an investigation led by Bragg’s office.
In an indictment unsealed last year charging former Adams Building Commissioner Eric Ulrich with bribery, Bragg prosecutors allege that Lewis Martin met with several of Ulrich’s co-defendants. He said they discussed the city’s business issues. The indictment alleges that in June 2022, Mr. Ulrich had dinner with Michael Mazzio, a tow truck driver who was charged with bribing Mr. Ulrich in hopes of getting a deal with city officials. It also includes things they shared together.
The indictment does not accuse Lewis Martin of any wrongdoing by Bragg. Ulrich has pleaded not guilty to bribery charges and is fighting the charges in court.
Separate from the investigation that led to the indictment of Mr. Adams this week, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, tried to extract cash from the city’s nightlife venues in exchange for favors from the NYPD. We are investigating whether this was the case.
The federal office said Terrence Banks, a government relations consultant and brother of Schools Superintendent David Banks and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks, was involved in a scheme that included unregistered lobbying and kickbacks on city contracts. We are conducting a separate investigation to determine whether this is the case.
All three Banks brothers had their homes searched and their devices confiscated as part of the investigation, as did First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Mr Adams’ chief public safety adviser Tim Pearson. Finance Minister Banks announced earlier this week that she would resign by the end of the year, but insisted her resignation was unrelated to the investigation.
To date, no one other than Adams has been publicly accused of wrongdoing by federal authorities in connection with the swirling investigation.
A growing number of prominent politicians, including New York State Representative Jerry Nadler, are calling for the mayor’s resignation as the indictment and ongoing investigation engulf the administration. The mayor said he has no intention of leaving City Hall.
with Josephine Stratman
First published: September 27, 2024 at 3:26 p.m.