Awaiting indictment, Ingrid Lewis-Martin meets the press

Ingrid Lewis-Martin has always had her own style. When they go low, she drills for oil. And when they get ready to indict, she beats them to the microphone.

The longtime friend and adviser to Mayor Eric Adams resigned from her position at City Hall over the weekend – news that was immediately followed by reports of an imminent indictment by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. An indictment had yet to be unsealed as of Monday afternoon, but Lewis-Martin joined her attorney in Manhattan to confirm that they expected one, and to attempt to head off the charges – whatever they may be.

“I am being falsely accused of something – I don’t know exactly what it is. But I know that I was told that it’s something that’s illegal, and I have never done anything illegal in my capacity in government,” Lewis-Martin said at attorney Arthur Aidala’s Midtown office late Monday morning, in a conference room packed with press. During her several decades in government, she added, she has never taken any gifts or bribes. “I have not made any arrangements in advance to take any gifts or money, or to have any gifts or money given to a family member or a friend in order for me to do my job,” she said.

Law enforcement scrutiny of Lewis-Martin first became public in September, when she was stopped at Kennedy International Airport by officials with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and had her phone seized and a subpoena served to her.

Soon after that, Aidala hosted Lewis-Martin on his radio show – a strange move for an attorney, whose job is typically to protect their clients from making potentially damaging or self-incriminating comments. On that eyebrow-raising September radio show appearance, Lewis-Martin said that she believed “we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.” For some listeners, the comment raised the question of whether some other illegal or improper activity had occurred. Aidala said Monday that Lewis-Martin was just trying to say, with humility, that she was not perfect.

While Monday’s press conference would seem to present another opportunity for risky off-the-cuff comments, Aidala – who is reportedly under consideration by the incoming Trump administration to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which is also investigating Adams’ inner circle – did most of the talking. Lewis-Martin made only a short statement. And there may be some logic to attempting to get ahead of a story. “Lawyers tell their clients not to speak, even though Ingrid, God bless her, she’s got a lot to say,” Aidala said at the beginning of the press conference. “But I’m hoping, because she's here today, we can be somewhat respectful of her and her family and her residents – not chasing her down the block or chasing her out of the courtroom.”

Aidala characterized the expected indictment from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as politically motivated, and said that the DA’s office denied their request for a proffer session to discuss some text messages and emails that he said they were privy to as part of the case but could be easily explained. While Aidala didn’t go into detail about much, he confirmed a few points – including that they expected more people to be indicted alongside Lewis-Martin and that they expected the case to relate to charges of receiving improper gifts.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office has declined to comment on an investigation or a potential indictment. “Because this office acts with the utmost integrity, it would be inappropriate for us to respond,” a spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.