Indictment: For home renovations, a TV cameo, catering and cash, Ingrid Lewis-Martin traded her influence

Mayor Eric Adams’ former longtime adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin traded political influence for $75,000 in bribes and favors for herself and her son, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and city Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said Thursday. 

The perks Lewis-Martin allegedly accepted in exchange for political favors include $50,000 wired to her son’s bank account, event catering, home renovations and a TV cameo on the show “Godfather of Harlem.” Adams was not accused of wrongdoing, and a campaign spokesperson for the mayor said Lewis-Martin was “a devoted public servant.”

In four separate indictments that named eight co-defendants, the district attorney’s office described a raft of corruption that touched multiple city agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the fire department. Lewis-Martin and her co-defendants all pleaded not guilty to all charges Thursday. The new corruption charges follow a previous indictment unsealed in December charging Lewis-Martin and her son with accepting $100,000 in bribes – to which they also pleaded not guilty. 

Lewis-Martin’s attorney Arthur Aidala called the new charges “a troubling example of politically motivated ‘lawfare.’” “Ingrid Lewis Martin is facing charges classified at the lowest level of felony in our justice system. Her only so-called ‘offense’ was fulfilling her duty – helping fellow citizens navigate the City’s outdated and often overwhelming bureaucracy,” he wrote in a statement. 

On the morning of Aug. 11, 2023, one of the co-defendants, developer Tian Ji Li, called Lewis-Martin at 9:26 a.m., one indictment says. About 20 minutes later, $50,000 arrived in her son’s bank account from Li’s company. That massive payout allegedly came after Lewis-Martin steered a hefty city contract for an asylum-seeker shelter to Li’s associate – netting Li $1.2 million in city funds.

On Sept. 21, 2022, Lewis-Martin stepped on set with actor Forest Whitaker for a nightclub scene in the Hulu show “Godfather of Harlem,” another indictment alleges. She sent a selfie of her “look” to the owners of the production company where the scene was filmed, fellow co-defendants Gina and Tony Argento. The cameo, which was on her “bucket list,” was allegedly among the perks Lewis-Martin got for helping the Argentos block a street redesign on McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint.

Here it is. Ingrid Lewis-Martin’s appearance on Godfather of Harlem. Season 3, Episode 3, about 34:43 into the episode. pic.twitter.com/mXcXx68X7k

— Eric Holmberg (@holmberges) August 21, 2025

On the morning July 12, 2023, Lewis-Martin allegedly texted a deputy mayor to step out of a meeting with the mayor about hate crimes. The urgent reason? She needed to connect them with defendant real estate developer Yachiel Landau, who was trying to fast-track a project in Red Hook, yet another indictment alleges. Lewis-Martin allegedly advocated on behalf of multiple projects for Landau in concert with defendant Jesse Hamilton, deputy commissioner of real estate services at the Citywide Administrative Services department and longtime Adams ally. In return, Hamilton and Lewis-Martin got free home renovations, the indictment alleges. Hamilton resigned from his post in city government on Thursday after the indictment was made public, the New York Post first reported.

On April 4, 2024, Lewis-Martin called a person a fourth indictment identifies as “Co-conspirator #1” and told them, “You outdid yourself ... It was delicious. They had it sent up beautifully. I'm eating one of your crab cakes as I speak to you.” The indictment alleges she helped that person secure permission from the Department of Buildings for home renovations. In exchange, it alleges she got free event catering for events at City Hall and Gracie Mansion. 

Lewis-Martin is a longtime adviser to Adams who served as his right-hand and his fixer when he ascended to City Hall in 2021 and until she resigned in December amid a mass exodus from the Adams administration and ahead of her first indictment. She has known the mayor since the 1980s, when her husband served with him in the NYPD. She managed Adams’ 2005 state Senate campaign and then became his chief of staff. Her loyalty, defensiveness of the mayor and her territorial approach earned her the name “The Lioness of City Hall.” In a 2022 cover profile, she told City & State: “I’m not Michelle Obama. When they go low? We drill for oil. I’ll meet you down in the subbasement.”