Chief Adviser for New York City Mayor Eric Adams Has Phone Seized by Feds, Served Subpoena
AP Photo/Andres Kudacki
The chief adviser for New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) had her phone seized by federal agents and was “served with a subpoena,” her lawyer confirmed to the New York Times.
In a statement to the outlet, Ingrid Lewis-Martin’s lawyer, Arthur L. Aidala, explained that his client would “cooperate fully with any and all investigations.” Investigators, a state and federal agent, reportedly served Lewis-Martin with her subpoena and informed her that her home had been raided after she had returned to the United States from a trip to Japan, according to the outlet.
This comes after a five-count indictment against Adams was unsealed on Thursday, charging the mayor with bribery, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign nation, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals.
As Breitbart News previously reported, the charges against Adams are in relation to contributions made to his 2021 campaign by “wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”
“Ingrid Lewis-Martin has been served with a subpoena from the Southern District of New York and her phones were given to the New York County District Attorney’s Office,” Aidala said. “She will cooperate fully with any and all investigations.”
Video footage posted to X by Courtney Gross, a reporter with Spectrum News NY1, showed law enforcement officials at Lewis-Martin’s home.
The investigations regarding Lewis-Martin, who has served as his “top aide since 2006,” may stem from an indictment against Eric Ulrich, the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings and a senior adviser to Adams, according to the outlet.
In September 2023, Ulrich was indicted on 16 counts of bribery, conspiracy, and “filing false financial information,” according to Politico. The indictment against Ulrich charged him with allegedly “exchanging access and official favors for $150,000 in cash and gifts.”
The recent indictment against Adams comes as a wave of people in his administration have resigned and faced federal investigations and raids on their homes.
In November, the homes of Brianna Suggs, a former senior campaign fundraiser for Adams, and Rana Abbasova, who had served as an international affairs aide for Adams, were raided.
At the beginning of September, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a raid on the homes of New York City First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and New York City Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks in relation to an investigation into Adams’ 2021 campaign.
Edward Caban, who had previously served as the police commissioner for New York City, resigned after facing a federal investigation regarding his brother and the New York Police Department’s enforcement of nightclubs.
Thomas G. Donlon, the interim police commissioner for New York City, also recently faced a raid and had federal agents take documents that he had received from 20 years ago, according to the New York Times.
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