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The 4 alleged schemes of Mayor Adams' former chief adviser
By
Samantha Max
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Aug 21, 2025
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Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
and
Ben Feuerherd
Published Aug 21, 2025
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Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Eric Adams' former chief adviser, now faces five separate indictments accusing her of trading her power for bribes.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office lodged a laundry list of allegations against the mayor’s longtime confidant on Thursday, adding to an ongoing corruption case from last year. Prosecutors accused Lewis-Martin of using her power to benefit film producers and real estate developers in exchange for cash and other gifts.
She and various alleged co-conspirators pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday. Here’s a breakdown of the corruption schemes prosecutors accused them of:
Favors repaid with a television role
Lewis-Martin allegedly conspired with film production studio owners Gina and Tony Argento to interrupt the redesign of a dangerous stretch of roadway in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The Argentos, who are siblings, opposed the redesign of McGuinness Boulevard — which would add protected bike lanes — because they thought it would slow down trucks transporting equipment to their company, Broadway Stages, Gothamist previously reported.
From 2022 through 2024, Lewis-Martin worked to interfere with the redesign, in part by installing a City Hall employee to be her representative at the Department of Transportation, prosecutors charged. That employee then urged DOT to change the redesign in accordance with the Argentos’ views, according to the indictment.
In exchange, Gina Argento gave Lewis-Martin $2,500, prosecutors charged. The siblings also set her up with a brief speaking role in the television drama the “Godfather of Harlem,” which paid $800 and allowed her to join the Screen Actors Guild, according to the indictment. Tony Argento said he would be her agent and secure her future spots on the show and on the CBS police drama “Blue Bloods.”
Steering migrant shelter contracts
Prosecutors said Lewis-Martin helped steer migrant shelter contracts to property owners associated with a developer named Tian Ji Li, who they said was promised a percentage of the lease agreement.
In a May 2024 telephone call, Lewis-Martin urged a deputy commissioner in the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to look at shelter sites proposed by Li.
“Whatever site TJ wants, I need him to get them. Because that’s our f—ing people,” she said, according to the indictment.
The deputy commissioner confirmed in a later phone call that Li was “first in line,” the indictment states.
Lewis-Martin also intervened with the fire and buildings departments to speed along permit approvals for a karaoke bar Li was building in Queens, according to the indictment.
“I took care of what we discussed,” she said in one text message to Li quoted in the indictment. “It is in the works.”
In return, the developer wired $50,000 to a company owned by Lewis-Martin’s son. The indictment also accuses Li of deleting text exchanges between himself, Lewis-Martin and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services official the day after Adams was charged in federal court.
Favors repaid in home renovations
An indictment also names Jesse Hamilton, the current deputy commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and centers on his and Lewis-Martin’s relationship with real estate developer Yechiel Landau.
Prosecutors allege Lewis-Martin fast tracked Landau's development projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx that allowed them to be approved by Housing Preservation and Development far quicker than similar projects across the city, prosecutors charged. Hamilton and Lewis-Martin also worked to steer a city contract for a migrant shelter to a business partner of Landau in Jamaica, Queens, the indictment states.
In exchange, Landau paid more than $5,000 for renovations to a property Lewis-Martin owns, according to the charges. He also paid for garbage removal and the repainting of Hamilton’s home to make a living space at the property available for Lewis-Martin’s sister.
Fast-tracking home renovation for crab cakes
Lewis-Martin cut through red tape on a home renovation in exchange for free crabcakes, seafood salad and thousands of dollars worth of other food, according to one indictment unveiled Thursday.
Prosecutors said Lewis-Martin asked the commissioner of the Department of Buildings to help an unnamed co-conspirator get renovation plans approved. After she got involved, a department examiner who she complained was “impossible” to work with was replaced with an examiner who greenlit plans more quickly, according to the indictment.
The DA’s office said Lewis-Martin then asked the co-conspirator to provide food from his business for events at Gracie Mansion and City Hall, free of charge.
“Whatever you need,” the co-conspirator said in a phone call described in the indictment.
Prosecutors alleged that the co-conspirator provided more than $5,000 worth of free food at different events.
“You outdid yourself,” Lewis-Martin said in a phone call in April 2024, according to the indictment. “It was delicious. They had it set up beautifully. I’m eating one of your crab cakes as I speak to you.”
Tagged
Politics
brooklyn
eric adams
manhattan
new york city
public safety
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Ben Feuerherd
Ben Feuerherd covers public safety and policing for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered federal courts for The New York Post and The Messenger. His work has also appeared in POLITICO, the Daily Beast and NBC New York. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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