By Katie Honan and Greg B. Smith , THE CITY | Editorial Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

The chief advisor who stepped down earlier this week and her 38-year-old son are charged in what prosecutors described as a series of illegal favors and payments.

“She is so fired up to fight these charges,” he said. “If it were up to her, we would be back here on Christmas and New Year’s to fight these charges.”

The indictment zeroes in on multiple text messages from the businessmen to Lewis-Martin asking for her assistance with buildings department headaches. At one point she admonished them to speak in code and use the encrypted app Signal, texting, “Please only use Signal for asks,” the indictment alleges.

Lewis-Martin was charged with bribery and also money laundering because the funds from the businessmen went through the account she shared with her son, according to prosecutors.

Vaid and Dwivedi also paid Lewis-Martin and her son to help with other business ventures Martin II was trying to start, including a clothing line and a Chick-fil-A franchise — ensuring she would help with any city issues, the indictment alleges.

‘Call Your Source’

Lewis-Martin’s interactions with the businessmen date to the very beginning of her tenure at City Hall. According to the complaint, Lewis-Martin and her son met Vaid and Dwivedi on Jan. 27, 2022, weeks into Mayor Eric Adams’ first term. The next day, she texted the pair and invited them to Gracie Mansion, where the mayor would meet with foreign dignitaries.

That May, Vaid asked Lewis-Martin for help with a visa for a family member, sharing in a message over WhatsApp: “[T]his exactly needs to be pushed to get immediate appointment.” The next day, she said she reached out to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office for visa assistance.

In some of the communications, the requests to Lewis-Martin to use her influence are quite clear.

Prosecutors said Lewis-Martin directly texted the acting buildings department commissioner — who at the time was current first deputy commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik — asking if they could “please expedite” the hotel project.

Andrew Rudansky, a spokesperson for the buildings department, said the agency is sending inspectors to the locations, 1204 Broadway and 107 Rivington Street, “out of an abundance of caution.” The agency also plans to conduct audits of the construction applications for those addresses.

By August 2023, DOB had rejected an architectural plan for construction at the hotel. Within a few hours Dwivedi and Vaid made a series of calls to Lewis-Martin’s son, Glen Martin, according to prosecutors. Four days later Dwivedi, through his company Landshark Consultants, issued a $50,000 check to Glen Martin, who deposited it in an account he shared with his mother, the indictment alleges.

The next day a second $50,000 check, this one from Vaid and with “personal loan” inscribed in the memo, went into the joint account, according to Bragg.

Prosecutors asserted there is no indication that any “loan” was repaid by Martin II.

In March of this year, Dwivedi resubmitted the architectural plans that DOB had rejected several months earlier. Dwivedi then had several Signal conversations with Lewis-Martin’s son, and Vaid texted him to inform his mother that DOB “needs to approve this.”

A day later DOB approved the plan.

‘Your Sister Has to Be Rich!’

Following the arraignment Thursday on the sidewalk outside of Manhattan Supreme Court, Lewis-Martin’s attorney, Aidala, accused Bragg of bringing a “witchhunt type of a case” against “a dedicated public servant” who was just trying to help constituents.

Aidala insisted the text messages were “totally misinterpreted,” stating that Lewis-Martin had merely “helped a constituent navigate the thick red tape of city government.”

He ridiculed the case and insisted that Lewis-Martin knew nothing about the payments from the businessmen to her son, even though the money went into a joint account.

“He’s 38 years old,” he said. “It’s not like he’s an 18 year old kid, and she’s trying to get him a job somewhere.”

Lewis-Martin, 63, abruptly left her job at City Hall this week, after having discussed her end-of-year retirement plans earlier this fall.

She is Adams’ longest and most trusted aide. Their relationship dates back to the mayor’s time in the police academy with Lewis-Martin’s husband, Glenn Martin.

Her time in politics dates back to the 1980s, when she worked at Renaissance Development Corporation as a grant writer and then volunteered on the re-election campaign of Congressman Major R. Owens before taking a paid position as deputy campaign manager, according to her biography provided by City Hall.

She was a social studies teacher for nearly a decade at IS 320 in Brooklyn from 1984 to 1992 then worked on Adams’ State Senate campaign in 2007. She then joined as his chief of staff in Albany, and later worked for him in the Brooklyn borough president’s office starting in 2014.

When she announced her retirement last week, Lewis-Martin said she wanted to spend more time with her family including her granddaughter.

In Thursday’s indictment, court records show she spoke briefly about her life after City Hall when speaking to an unnamed real estate agent working to find a place for her son to open a Chick-fil-A franchise.

“I’m not playing,” she allegedly said in a phone conversation. “Your sister has to be rich! I’m gonna retire.”

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