Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a longtime adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, revealed Monday that she hopes impending indictment against him Will allege that he took illegal gifts – as he flatly denies wrongdoing.
Lewis-Martin — who abruptly resigned from City Hall on Sunday due to anticipated criminal charges — claimed she was targeted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office during a dramatic press conference in the Midtown office of her defense attorney Arthur Addala. Pressure was being applied.
“I’ve been falsely accused of something here,” said Lewis-Martin, 63. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but I know I was told it’s something that’s illegal, and I’ve never done anything illegal in my capacity in government.”
Both Lewis-Martin and Aidala were vague on the exact charges they expected to be brought against them after Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office convened a grand jury last week.
But he indicated that the indictment unsealed this week accuses Lewis-Martin – one of the mayor’s closest confidants, who first met him in the 1980s when he was at the police academy – of taking illegal gifts. Will go.
The news conference – an unusual and brazen move for a prominent figure who was to be convicted – featured a smiling Lewis-Martin, dressed in a green velvet suit, appearing as a surprise guest and discussing the complaints. Doubled as a preemptive strike against the broadcast and prosecutors. The matter has not been revealed yet
Aidala, his well-connected lawyer, claimed that Bragg’s prosecutors were trying to grab headlines after the unsuccessful prosecution of Marine veteran Daniel Penny. Jordan Neely acquitted in strangulation death On a crowded subway car last May.
“They wanted a press conference,” he said. “They wanted headlines. And sadly, that’s because politics has really infiltrated the justice system.
“We all know the Manhattan DA’s office took a big black eye last week with the Penny verdict. Now, you know, it’s going to derail it right before Christmas, and maybe, you know, cancel it.
Aidala said not only that at least one other person is likely involved in the case, but also that city prosecutors are targeting Lewis-Martin in the hopes that he will fight against Adams – who is a lawyer in New York’s Southern Hemisphere. The district is fighting federal charges.
“We all know there’s a long tradition that when the Southern District gets a big case, the Manhattan DA’s office tries to take out as much of it as possible,” he said. “This has been going on for decades and decades and decades.”
The lawyer, who has represented disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, argued that prosecutors showed their bias against Lewis-Martin by repeatedly refusing requests to sit with him in a meeting, Where they would agree not to use their words. against him.
But Aidala said Lewis-Martin ultimately refused to tell her side of the story to the grand jury, which is currently meeting to decide whether to bring indictments.
He said he expected that texts and emails related to Lewis-Martin and messages obtained as part of the DA’s investigation would be taken out of context to create a “narrative” rather than seeking the truth.
He said, “We are preparing for the indictment to come, and I’m sure it will be written in a way that will seem damaging.” “And then, the puzzle pieces are being put together to make it as terrifying as possible. But we know the truth. And the truth is that Ingrid Lewis-Martin never broke the law.
A spokesman for Bragg declined to comment.
A representative said, “Since this office operates with the utmost integrity, it would be inappropriate for us to respond.”
Adams referred to Lewis-Martin as her “old friend and sister” during a surprise press conference on Monday, but declined to comment further.
A City Hall press officer repeatedly blocked reporters from asking Adams questions about Lewis-Martin and her apparently imminent impeachment. The mayor referred questions about him to Aidala.
“I’m not going to talk about Ingrid’s next steps,” Adams said. “He has a lawyer.”
-Additional reporting by Hannah Fiericke
(Tags to translate)Metro(T)US News(T)Alvin Bragg(T)Arthur Aidala(T)City Hall(T)Eric Adams(T)Eric Adams Impeachment
