The New York Property in the Ingrid Lewis-Martin Indictment

The mayor’s top adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was indicted today for a scheme that will be pretty familiar to the architects and developers who try to build in New York City. She’s accused of taking bribes from two real-estate investors in exchange for helping them get projects approved more quickly through the city’s Department of Buildings, along with other favors involving city agencies.

No one wants to deal with the DOB if they can help it. That’s pretty much the job description of an expediter, an above-board professional who helps architects and developers get faster approvals thanks to know-how and a network. The difference, of course, is that Lewis-Martin’s salary was paid by taxpayers, which means she’s not allowed to pocket more than $100,000 in cash to move things along.

In addition, the indictment names her son, Glenn D. Martin II, also referred to as “Suave Luciano,” his DJ name, for taking the money from the developers. Prosecutors allege that he put the payments in a joint account that his mother had access to, and yesterday they said that he seems to have spent a chunk of it on a $113,000 Porsche. The two real-estate operators who are accused of bribing the family are not big names in the industry, but they seem to run a couple of Manhattan hotels and have filed plans to open more. One of them, Raizada Vaid, a.k.a. “Pinky,” seems to have gotten his start as a wholesale-jewelry importer. The other, Mayank Dwivedi, is also an investor in a pair of bougie Hamptons hotels: the Capri and The Maidstone.

Lewis-Martin stepped down on Monday and has turned herself in, but says she’s being “falsely accused” and her lawyer says she has nothing to hide. “I hope they’ve been listening to Ingrid’s phones for the last 30 years,” said Arthur Aidala. That phone was seized at JFK in September, when she stepped off a flight from Japan. The following are the properties she was accused of speeding up approvals for.

In November 2022, the developer Mayank Dwivedi texted his investment partner, Raizada Vaid, that “Ingrid Madam is needed” after there was an issue with a permit at this address. It’s a glassy 20-story hotel from 2003 that still looks out of step with the area, which the Kushner family office once backed out of buying. 

Phone records seemed to show Vaid and Dwivedi set up a meeting with Lewis-Martin on December 8 to speed up the process, then followed up through January 17. That’s when she sent a text to the acting DOB commissioner, apparently explaining the situation: An inspector had “objections” to a permit to renovate an interior where she suggested they weren’t changing all that much. “Please look into this with thanks and gratitude,” she wrote.

During a meeting with the two indicted investors in December 2022, Lewis-Martin allegedly texted the DOB commissioner to ask them to expedite a construction application for the Glass Ceiling, a rooftop bar on the top floor of this building, one of the vaguely charming commercial structures that give Nomad its spunk — in this case a four-story one, built around 1930, with small retail spaces on the ground floor and small, 5,000-square-foot offices above. The building is owned by Vaid, who had texted Lewis-Martin a few weeks before the meeting asking for help with the same application.

In June 2023, Vaid apparently had an issue with an application to the DOT at this address. According to the Real Deal, he had filed plans to build a 15-story hotel there in 2015. He sent a photo of the paperwork to Lewis-Martin’s son, and on the same day, she texted the acting DOB commissioner instead, asking for help looking into an application “stuck at DOT … as many people are on holiday there.”

On May 23 of last year, Vaid allegedly texted Lewis-Martin’s son, Glenn D. Martin II, asking if this address could host short-term rentals. “Can it be done and if it is what do I need to do?” A week later, Lewis-Martin’s son allegedly forwarded the message to his mother. The building is a 1915 office building that Vaid might have seen as a candidate to convert into a hotel.

Lewis-Martin’s son appears in the indictment as a kind of go-between, not just forwarding texts but also scheduling meetings and seeming to get help in return. One favor that he seems to be asking for is cash for his fashion line. In one text from mother to son, Lewis-Martin says that his “fashion line is 100 percent” because “Pinky has you completely covered.”

Pinky also apparently had him covered when Martin cooked up a scheme to open a Chick-fil-A franchise and needed his help. On a tour with a real-estate agent, named as a Jane Doe, he refers to Vaid as “the guy who’s going to help back me,” and if the backing didn’t include money, it did include other kinds of help.

In a June 2024 phone call, Martin allegedly asked Pinky for help because he expected questions “about previous business history and stuff.” Vaid is quoted on a phone call telling him, “You can sit with my girl and my comptroller, and you can just tell her what is what and then we can make it happen.” During an in-person meeting they had at Vaid’s office, the indictment states that they called Lewis-Martin together, then called the real-estate agent to talk locations, then apparently leaned on Lewis-Martin to secure a spot. She’s accused of speaking with the real-estate agent a week later, apparently implying there would be money in the project for everyone involved. “I’m not playing,” she’s quoted as saying. “Your sister has to be rich! I’m gonna retire.”

We’ll update this as the story unfolds.