Chief adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was stopped at the airport by authorities Friday and had her phone seized as she arrived home from vacation in Japan, her lawyer and sources told The Post.
Officials with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office were waiting for the City Hall honcho when she got off the plane at Kennedy Airport in Queens to take her device — while federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York slapped her with a subpoena while there, also, sources said.
The federal subpoena sought Lewis-Martin as a witness to the federal corruption case against Adams that led to his historic indictment this week on accusations he took bribes from Turkish officials and nationals, sources said.
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DA officials also raided her Brooklyn home on Friday and took documents and electronic devices from it, her lawyer and sources said.
DA officials also went to Lewis-Martin’s Brooklyn home on Friday and took documents and electronic devices from it, her lawyer and sources said.
Details of the Manhattan probe were not immediately clear, but it appears to be an entirely new, or at least previously undisclosed, investigation.
The stunning moves add Lewis-Martin to the ever-growing list of those around Adams who have been raided or subpoenaed by investigators over the past year.
Federal investigators visited Lewis-Martin’s home on Friday.Paul Martinka
Friday’s dual actions seemingly aimed at Adams’ inner circle stem from two separate — though potentially overlapping — investigations, sources said.
The high-powered lawyer for Lewis-Martin, Aidala, said they confirmed the separate subpoena, phone confiscation, and raid.
“Ingrid Lewis-Martin has been served with a subpoena from the Southern District of New York, and her phones were given to the New York County District Attorney’s office,” Aidala told The Post.
“She will fully cooperate with any investigations. Ms. Lewis is not the target of any case we are aware of.”
The feds stopped Mayor Eric Adams’ chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin at the airport to confiscate her phone Friday.Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
Lewis-Martin, a longtime friend and adviser to Adams, has been on vacation in Japan for at least a week. Her absence from the mayor’s recent weekly news conferences caused a stir.
The stunning move came just one day after a high-profile five-count indictment accused Adams of secretly soliciting and accepting corporate gifts and illegal campaign contributions from wealthy foreigners, including Turkish officials, as early as 2014.
In a series of raids on Sept. 4, federal authorities previously seized the phones of former New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, among others.
The raids were the result of a federal corruption investigation that, so far, appears to be separate from the investigation leading to Adams’ indictment.
Lewis-Martin previously worked with Adams as a deputy during his tenure as Brooklyn Borough President.
