Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who resigned Sunday as chief advisor to Mayor Eric Adams, expects to be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury as soon as Monday, a source familiar with the situation told the Daily News.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office have presented evidence to a grand jury and are likely close to presenting an indictment, sources told The News.
Lewis-Martin suddenly resigned from her role as chief advisor to Mayor Adams on Sunday.
Investigators with both the DA’s office and the Southern District of New York have been probing Lewis-Martin since at least September — when they seized her electronic devices and raided her home after she stepped off a flight from Japan.
Other city officials and a lobbyist on the trip also had their devices seized — including Jesse Hamilton, a former state senator now in charge of the city’s vast real estate portfolio.
It was unclear Sunday what Lewis-Martin might be charged with, but the indictment is expected to be at least in part related to a probe into the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ real estate deals, sources familiar with the matter said,
The DA has also been investigating allegations involving Lewis-Martin’s son, who is a DJ and a hotelier, according to the New York Times, which first reported that a grand jury was hearing evidence against Martin.
Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, declined to comment. Lewis-Martin’s phone went straight to voicemail on Sunday evening.
“I extend humble gratitude to you for encouraging me to be my authentic self and for having my back during some trying times,” Lewis-Martin wrote in a statement on her departure from City Hall hours before news of the impending indictment surfaced.
“As you would say, this has been a good ride; I will use author’s license and say that this has been an amazing ride.”
Adams, a longtime friend and confidant to Lewis-Martin, is himself facing a five-count federal corruption indictment and is expected to go to trial in April.
Sources familiar with the matter previously told The News said her normally tight relationship with the mayor became tense after she went on her attorney, Arthur Aidala’s radio show shortly after the raid at her home.
In the appearance on the show, Lewis-Martin said she believes the public will see “we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.”
This comment angered the mayor, the sources said, as it implied there might have been some criminal activity. One of the sources said the mayor and Lewis-Martin hadn’t spoken in weeks before to Sunday’s announcement of her resignation.