Already Embattled Eric Adams Faces Two More Setbacks
In the span of 24 hours, Mayor Eric Adams was dealt two significant blows: one to his administration, the other to his reelection campaign.
On Monday, the city’s campaign finance board officially denied Adams’s 2025 campaign the use of public matching funds as he mounts a likely uphill battle for a second term against a crowded field. The board cited the pending federal case against the mayor in which prosecutors allege, in part, that Adams misused the matching program by applying for the funds while using donations from illegal contributors. In a statement, board chairman Frederick Schaffer said “there is reason to believe the Adams campaign has engaged in conduct detrimental to the matching-funds program in violation of law.”
That hit came just hours after it was reported that Adams had lost one of his top staffers. On Sunday, Politico reported that his senior adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin had abruptly resigned from her role, the latest in a series of high-profile exits that have plagued City Hall over the past few months. Though Lewis-Martin had previously voiced her plans to retire, her departure comes as a Manhattan grand jury is said to be hearing evidence against her and could potentially return an indictment as early as this week, per the New York Times. Arthur Aidala, Lewis-Martin’s attorney, said during a press conference Monday that he is “pretty certain” that they will be in court this week, confirming that an indictment is imminent.
Since January 2022, Ingrid Lewis-Martin has served in City Hall as Adams’s senior adviser. She and Adams have been close friends since the 1980s; she was his top adviser and chief of staff when he was a state senator, and then his deputy when he was Brooklyn borough president.
“Ingrid has not been just a friend, a confidant, and trusted adviser, but also a sister,” Adams said in a statement. “We’ve always talked about when this day would come, and while we’ve long planned for it, it is still hard to know that Ingrid won’t be right next door every day.”
The Times reported that the Manhattan district attorney’s probe is said to be focused on commercial real estate and how the city leases those properties. A source told the outlet that investigators were looking into possible money laundering and bribery.
In September, Lewis-Martin was returning from an overseas trip in Japan when she was met at the John F. Kennedy International Airport by investigators with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Her phone was seized, and her home in Brooklyn was also searched, per ABC News. She also received a grand-jury subpoena from federal authorities. Lewis-Martin was traveling with Jesse Hamilton, the deputy commissioner for real estate in the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, as well as Cushman & Wakefield vice-chair Diana Boutross, who both had their devices seized.
In an unexpected twist, Lewis-Martin joined her lawyer Aidala on his radio show not long after the phone seizure and personally addressed her legal situation. Notably, she did not explicitly deny any potential wrongdoing. “We are imperfect, but we’re not thieves,” Lewis-Martin said, per the New York Daily News. “And I do believe that in the end, that the New York City public will see that we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA office to investigate us.”
Initial reports suggest that the ongoing investigation into Lewis-Martin is unrelated to the mayor, who is currently contending with his own legal issues. In September, Adams was indicted on five federal corruption counts with prosecutors alleging that he intentionally sought illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams has maintained his innocence in the matter, and his trial is set to begin in April 2025.
But even though their cases aren’t related, the possible indictment of Lewis-Martin only adds to the swirl of questions surrounding Adams’s administration. Since federal agents conducted mass raids on the homes of several top Adams appointees in September, many of those figures have since left City Hall, including NYPD commissioner Edward Caban, first deputy mayor Sheena Wright, and school chancellor David Banks. The three have yet to be officially implicated in any wrongdoing.
Despite Adams and Lewis-Martin’s long-standing history, there are reports that their once-close bond has been weakening. Sources tell the Daily News that Adams was unhappy with Lewis-Martin’s radio appearance, and that they haven’t been in contact in weeks.
Adams did receive some potentially positive news on Monday. President-elect Donald Trump indicated during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago that he would consider pardoning the mayor once in office.