Federal authorities served Ingrid Lewis-Martin, one of Mayor Eric Adams’s closest aides, with a subpoena as soon as she landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport after landing from a vacation to Japan on Friday, her lawyer confirmed to THE CITY.
Lewis-Martin’s home on Troy Avenue in Brooklyn was also served with a federal search warrant.
Her lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said Lewis-Martin was served a subpoena from the Southern District of New York, which indicted Adams on Thursday, and that her phones were given to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. SDNY’s office in Manhattan.
“She will cooperate fully with any and all investigations and Ms. Lewis is not the target of any case of which we are aware,” he said in a statement.
Lewis-Martin returned from Japan with Jesse Hamilton, a longtime Adams ally and friend who is the deputy commissioner for real estate services within the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Aidala confirmed. It’s unclear if Hamilton also received a subpoena.
News of the raid on Lewis-Martin came amid a battering few days for Adams, who pleaded not guilty on five corruption counts in a federal courtroom Friday afternoon.
The 57-page indictment unsealed a day earlier accused him of accepting campaign donations and lavish flight upgrades from Turkish nationals in exchange for favors. Adams has promised to fight the charges and said he doesn’t plan to resign.
The indictment and raid of Lewis-Martin’s home Friday, came three weeks after other members of Adams inner circle faced similar raids and had their electronics confiscated including former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, her partner the Schools Chancellor David Banks and Tim Pearson, the mayor’s senior public safety advisor.
The weeks since have been marked by turmoil for the Adams administration, with Caban’s resignation, as well as that of mayor’s chief counsel Lisa Zornberg who reportedly quit after Adams ignored her advice to fire Pearson.
Schools Chancellor Banks and the Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan both announced they plan to leave at the end of the year.
Lewis-Martin was on vacation in Japan over the last two weeks, she told THE CITY. At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Mayor Adams addressed her absence and brushed off any idea she might be leaving.
“I am hoping she’s having fun. And I am not annoying her at all. And when she texts me, I say, Ingrid, enjoy your vacation,” he said. “We got this.”
Samantha Maldonado contributed additional reporting.
