Two real estate investors repeatedly went to the mayor’s top adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, for help with construction approvals from the Department of Buildings while providing more than $100,000 in bribes to her and her son, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
Lewis-Martin, who abruptly resigned as Mayor Eric Adams’ chief aide over the weekend, was charged with intervening at the DOB on behalf of hoteliers Mayank Dwivedi and Raizada Vaid, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced.
Vaid and Dwivedi are accused of funneling more than $100,000 to an account shared by Lewis-Martin and her son, Glenn Martin II, to support the younger Martin’s DJ company, Suave Productions, and his fashion line, as well as to provide financial backing to open a Chick-fil-A franchise and buy a 2023 Porsche, according to the indictment.
In exchange, Lewis-Martin allegedly instructed the Department of Buildings to expedite Vaid and Dwivedi’s projects.
“The indictment unsealed today can be summarized in three words: quid pro quo,” Bragg said during a press conference on Thursday.
Ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Lewis-Martin maintained that she had never done anything illegal in her decades of government service.
The indictment details text messages between Dwivedi, Vaid and Lewis-Martin seeking assistance on construction permits rejected for a hotel at 107 Rivington Street and delays related to a rooftop bar at 1204 Broadway known as the Glass Ceiling.
Vaid met with Lewis-Martin on Dec. 8, 2022, to ask for help on the Glass Ceiling project, according to the indictment. During their meeting, Lewis-Martin sent a message to acting-DOB commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik that read, “Can we please expedite: approve application number # 123165546,” referring to the Glass Ceiling’s application, according to the indictment.
Vilenchik, who was running the agency because Eric Ulrich had resigned in his own corruption scandal, moved to approve the application the same day as Lewis-Martin’s request, according to officials.
The same day as the meeting with Vaid, who also goes by “Pinky,” Lewis-Martin allegedly texted her son that Vaid had agreed to support his clothing line, writing, “Pinky has you completely covered. You[r] fashion line is 100 percent. Call him later.”
Three weeks earlier, Dwivedi had texted Vaid about the rejected construction permit application for the Rivington project, writing, “Ingrid Madam is needed,” according to the indictment.
The day after Vaid’s December meeting with Lewis-Martin, he texted her, “Please call your DOB contact for my Rivington job number M08004615. . . It is stuck too at DOB,” the indictment states. A few days later, according to officials, Lewis-Martin asked the agency for assistance.
In January 2023, Vaid allegedly followed up with another plea about the Rivington project: “I need this favor. This is still stuck at DOB. . . . Please get this through.” He cited zoning objections for a “simple” interior renovation.
Lewis-Martin allegedly forwarded Vaid’s request to the Department of Buildings. Email records indicate that the acting commissioner acted quickly on Lewis-Martin’s initial messages regarding Rivington, then contacted Vaid directly to help fix his application after Lewis-Martin followed up, according to the indictment.
That August, as Vaid and Dwivedi worked to amend the Rivington application, Lewis-Martin’s son stepped in as an intermediary, according to the indictment. Phone records show that within hours of the DOB issuing objections to the amended plans on Aug. 24, 2023, a number of calls took place between Dwivedi, Vaid and Martin II, prosecutors allege. Later in the month, Martin II allegedly deposited into his account a $50,000 check from Dwivedi’s Landshark Consulting Services and $50,000 check from Vaid.
One of the checks went to his DJ business and the other was used to buy the Porsche, according to the indictment. Martin allegedly had someone impersonate his father in a call to the car dealership, after representing that the funds were from his father.
The D.A. alleges that Lewis-Martin knew that the bribe money was being used to buy the car because she cheekily referred to his “father” as they were texting about the car.
But Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said in a statement that Bragg’s case “will make no sense to any New York jury. To think that a high-ranking city official would take a bribe in the form of a check deposited into their own bank account defies common sense.”
As Vaid and Dwivedi continued seeking help on the hotel application, Vaid allegedly began helping Martin start a Chick-fil-A franchise and enlisted an unnamed real estate broker. In a phone conversation, Vaid told Martin that he had people in mind to help open the franchise, according to the indictment.
“You can sit with my girl and my comptroller, and you can just tell her what is what and then we can make it happen,” he allegedly told Martin.
The indictment also describes a phone conversation between the real estate broker and Lewis-Martin discussing the progress of the Chick-fil-A. After the broker updated Lewis-Martin, she allegedly told the broker: “I’m not playing. Your sister has to be rich! I’m gonna retire.”
Bragg underscored that Lewis-Martin knew that her actions were wrong. The D.A.’s filings pointed to Lewis-Martin’s response to the January text message from Vaid.
Lewis-Martin responded to the January 2023 text message by instructing Vaid, “Please only use Signal for asks,” referring to an encrypted text messaging service, and to only use coded language such as “trying to reach you” when texting her personal cell phone. She also allegedly adjusted her settings in Signal so that messages from Vaid would disappear after one hour.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, a Department of Buildings spokesperson said, “Out of an abundance of caution, DOB is routing inspectors to both 1204 Broadway and 107 Rivington Street to conduct field inspections of both locations, and we will be conducting audits of the construction applications associated with those properties.”
Bragg emphasized that the mayor is not a target of the investigation involving Lewis-Martin, which is ongoing. In September, the mayor was indicted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for allegedly seeking and receiving straw donations and luxury travel from Turkish officials and businesspeople, and, in exchange, helping them get construction and other approvals from city agencies.
State officials had seized the phones of Lewis-Martin, Jesse Hamilton, deputy commissioner of real estate at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and Cushman & Wakefield broker Diana Boutross as they returned from a vacation in Japan. No charges against Boutross or Hamilton have been announced.
Boutross, who specializes in retail leases but was chosen to represent the city in office deals, is reportedly longtime friends with Lewis-Martin.
This story has been updated with statements from Lewis-Martin’s attorney and the Department of Buildings.
Read more
Politics
New York
Inside the corruption charges against Eric Adams
Politics
New York
Investigators seize phone of Adams official who oversees city real estate
Commercial
New York
Brokerage alleges Cushman’s Diana Boutross made false statements to city