Mayor Adams’ Former Aide Will get Extra Corruption Prices
The previous longtime advisor to New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams was indicted by the Manhattan District Legal professional’s workplace on Thursday (Aug. 21) together with six others in an enlargement of a corruption probe that has dogged Adams’ administration for the final two years. For Lewis-Martin, it marks the second time she’s been indicted – she and her son, Glenn D. Martin II, had been indicted in a separate case involving corruption final December.
“If you happen to had been prepared to pay, Ms. Lewis-Martin was open for enterprise,” stated prosecutor Man Tardanico throughout opening statements. She and her son had been hit with 4 costs of corruption and bribery. These embody situations the place the previous chief of workers helped out siblings Gina and Anthony Argento, the homeowners of movie and TV manufacturing firm Broadway Phases, by intervening to cease a motorbike lane renovation on McGuiness Boulevard in Brooklyn close to their studio. In return, Lewis-Martin was given perks akin to money in addition to a talking function in an episode of the MGM+ TV present Godfather of Harlem.
Lewis-Martin can also be accused of steering shelter offers value tens of millions of {dollars} in direction of developer Tian Ji Li, who was a serious donor for Adams’ mayoral marketing campaign in 2021, utilizing her son as a go-between. Division of Citywide Administrative Companies Deputy Commissioner Jesse Hamilton, who was answerable for metropolis leases, and developer Yechiel Landau had been additionally indicted. Lewis-Martin would use her affect with Hamilton to push initiatives ahead repeatedly, usually in textual content messages and telephone calls laced with profanity. “Are you able to ensure that after I’m sending you a f—-g web site, [an unidentified city staffer] finds the location I f—-g ship you,” she reportedly stated to Hamilton in a single name.
Different presents that Lewis-Martin finagled had been $5,000 value of renovations to her residence paid by Landau in alternate for alleviating the way in which ahead for his constructing initiatives within the Bronx and Brooklyn, and free catering for Gracie Mansion occasions. She and the opposite defendants had been launched after the listening to with out bail. Hamilton would resign his place later that afternoon.
The indictments forged one other large shadow on Mayor Adams as he runs for reelection in November as an impartial. It comes a day after one other former aide, Winnie Greco, was busted for handing THE CITY reporter Katie Honan money secreted inside a bag of Herr’s Bitter Cream & Onion ripple potato chips. The incident led to Greco being suspended from her volunteer function with Adams’ reelection marketing campaign.
