Good afternoon. I’m Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney. Welcome to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. I’m honored to be joined today by our great Commissioner of the Department of Investigation, my great colleague Jocelyn Strauber, and her colleagues.
We work hand in hand to ensure honest practices in city government. And it’s been a phenomenal collaboration with today’s case being one way that we’ve collaborated.
I am always proud to work side by side with phenomenal career prosecutors here at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and want to acknowledge our team: Assistant District Attorneys Guy Tardanico and Denise Vasel, under the leadership of Jodie Kane, Head of our Investigation Division, Judy Salwen Principal Deputy in our Rackets bureau.
And this really has been a great law enforcement collaboration. I want to acknowledge those who worked on it from Commissioner Strauber’s office, I thank you for your unparalleled partnership.
Today’s announcement addresses corruption at the highest level of City government.
The indictment unsealed today can be summarized in three words: quid pro quo.
We allege that Ingrid Lewis-Martin engaged in a long-running bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy scheme by using her position and authority as the Chief Advisor to the New York City Mayor, the second highest position in city government, to illegally influence city decisions in exchange for in excess of $100,000 in cash and other benefits for herself and her son, Glenn Martin II.
Accordingly, both Lewis-Martin and Glenn Martin II are charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Bribe Receiving in the First Degree, a class B felony, Money Laundering in the Third Degree, a class D felony, and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree.
The charges encompass the vast majority of defendant Lewis-Martin’s time as Chief Advisor.
Their conduct is one-half of the quid pro quo equation. The other charges pertain to the other half: those who sought access by paying bribes.
We allege that real estate developers and business owners Rizada “Pinky” Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi paid for access and influence, to the tune of more than $100,000.
They each are charged with Bribery in the First Degree, a class B felony, and Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree.
Vaid and Dwivedi own private Manhattan businesses and properties including the Glass Ceiling, a rooftop bar near Herald Square, and the Hotel on Rivington on the Lower East Side.
Both these properties had construction permits pending with the Department of Buildings during various times of this investigation.
We allege that Lewis-Martin acted as an on-call consultant for Vaid and Dwivedi. Serving at their pleasure to resolve whatever issues they had with DOB on their construction projects.
And she did so without regard for security considerations and with utter and complete disregard for DOB’s expertise and the public servants who work there.
On multiple occasions, Vaid and Dwivedi asked Lewis-Martin to use her official role to help them evade DOB’s rules surrounding these two construction projects. And again and again, she delivered for them.
Each time, she received an ask, she complied. She would immediately flip their asks to DOB, sometimes without any moment’s notice, reflexively and on at least one occasion flipping the exact language provided to her. And DOB complied, expediting a project or helping overturn a decision to reject a permit.
Today’s indictment alleges and portrays a clear picture: you do this for me, and I will do that for you. It was not what is in the best interest of the City of New York, and those who live here, those who commute here, those who visit here. Plain and simple, it was for the best interests of the defendants. That is a disservice to New Yorkers.
We’re going to talk in a moment about the exchange of money. But I want to note that even without the bribe payments here, the jumping to the front of the line, is naked cronyism that in and of itself is anathema to public service.
But here money was exchanged. You will see the flow of money right here. Two $50,000 payments for a total of $100,000, received by Glenn Martin into a joint bank account that he and his mother had together. And these payments were made in the midst of asks by their co-conspirators pertaining to construction plans and DOB licensing.
The first is a $50,000 cashier’s check, and then the very next day, Vaid sent Martin a $50,000 personal check. He deposited both checks to joint accounts controlled by himself and Lewis-Martin.
He then transferred $50,000 from the joint account to an account for his DJ business. He then used that money to purchase what you see here: a $113,000 2023 Porsche.
It wasn’t just cash and a car – it was also securing business opportunities for her son. Part of the bribery scheme was support for Glenn Martin’s fashion line – where Vaid said that he had the son completely covered, according to Ingrid Lewis-Martin.
And in addition to the cash, the car, and the fashion line, was backing for a Chick-fil-A franchise – which we allege he had no experience to run.
Lewis-Martin herself knew this was wrong, we allege. Accordingly, our allegations discuss her attempts to cover her tracks.
First, Lewis-Martin invited her co-conspirators to join Signal, the encrypted end-to-end communication app.
And she gave explicit instructions that the bribery scheme was to be perpetuated by Signal, we allege, saying – and this is furthest to my right – quote, “Please only use Signal for asks.” And the indictment and the statement of facts spells out what those acts are in detail.
She also instructed her codefendant Vaid to use coded language if he were to use a text message. Text her to alert her that there was a Signal message coming. Quote, “Next time just text me ‘trying to reach you[’] and I will Look for it.”
In addition to emphasizing coded communications, Lewis-Martin also used her son as an intermediary to arrange meetings, relay messages, and receive money and other benefits.
Before I close, I want to say a few things and I want to be very clear about them. Three things.
The first, these charges do not allege any criminal conduct by Mayor Eric Adams. The Mayor is not a target of our investigation. We do not have evidence of criminal conduct by the Mayor.
Second, these charges should not cause us to lose sight of the great work done, day in and day out, by the countless public servants who make New York City run.
I am privileged, on public safety matters in particular, to work alongside a great team of deputy mayors and other leaders in this city. And I want to underscore our joint work together advancing public safety in this city. I am fortunate to serve alongside these talented public servants.
Third, we recently have had, both locally and beyond, a series of verbal attacks on law enforcement and prosecutors. In particular, prosecutors engaged in public corruption enforcement.
I want to salute all those who do this work. Who follow the facts without fear or favor. And increasingly so, in the face of these verbal attacks.
Here at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office we have a long history of doing this, dating back to when District Attorney Dewey had the seat I am now privileged to hold.
I am committed, as I have throughout my career, as a state and federal prosecutor, to continue this fine tradition, and alongside our public safety work on guns and hate crimes and sex crimes, continue to prioritize this important public corruption work. Along with our partners at DOI, we will continue to root out corruption. We will continue to follow the facts wherever they go. And we will do so because New Yorkers deserve no less.
Now on logistics. As some of you probably already know, the four defendants have surrendered. They are scheduled to be arraigned at 2:30 this afternoon, Part 95, 15th floor of 100 Centre. Our investigation is ongoing.
Let me now turn to our great partner, Commissioner Strauber.
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