WORLD WORLDWIDE US USA - New York NY - New York City NYC - THE CITY SCOOP - New charges for friends of Eric Adams and their friends.

FRIDAY,. AUGUST 22, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams’ closest longtime advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, sold off her influence to a wide variety of interests, taking free catering, cash, home renovations and other gifts in exchange for her help eliminating bureaucratic hurdles for developers and steering lucrative contracts to select vendors, prosecutors charged Thursday.

The breadth of her alleged perfidy was breathtaking: funneling contracts for migrant shelter sites to favored developers, fast-tracking development projects and a permit for one developer’s karaoke bar, altering a street design that was to have included protected bike lanes.

In return, she received cash, home renovations and thousands of dollars of free catering for events she held at Gracie Mansion. Her son, Glenn Martin II, allegedly received $50,000 in cash diverted from a city contract, according to the charges unsealed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Four separate indictments leveled conspiracy, bribery and other charges against six defendants: Lewis-Martin and her son; Jesse Hamilton, another close associate of Adams whom the mayor had put in charge of city leases before he resigned later on Thursday; businessman Tian Ji Li and developer Yechiel Landau; and Gina and Anthony Argento, the sibling co-owners of Broadway Stages, a film and TV production company that got Lewis-Martin to intervene to cancel street-safety alterations on McGuinness Boulevard they opposed.

All six surrendered to authorities at the 100 Centre Street courthouse early Thursday, and were led into court handcuffed. All pleaded not guilty before Judge Daniel Conviser and were released without bail.

Read more here about the latest charges against two members of the mayor’s inner circle.

Weather ☀️

Sunny, with a high near 80.

MTA 🚇

No 6 between Grand Central-42 St and Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall from 11:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22 - until 5:00 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 25. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect Friday, Aug. 22.

By the way …

NYC announced on Tuesday that rat sightings are down for the eight straight months. Here’s our guide on how you should be disposing of your trash.

Our Other Top Stories

Rival candidates lined up to roast Mayor Eric Adams in the wake of a new bribery indictment of his close longtime advisor and the news that a campaign confidante had handed a reporter for THE CITY cash stuffed inside a potato chip bag. Tian Ji Li, one of the business people charged Thursday along with Ingrid Lewis-Martin, raised big money for Eric Adams’ campaign before he allegedly had a migrant shelter contract with the city steered to one of his preferred vendors, repeating $1,2 million for himself in the process before wiring $50,000 to a firm headed by Lewis-Martin’s son.  Street safety activists in Greenpoint say the new charges against Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Eric Adams’ closest political advisor and ally, confirm what they’d long suspected about how she’d sabotaged the city’s own plan to improve a lethal crossing on behalf of a powerful neighborhood family — and they want that plan restored.   Four years after then Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to move control of school safety units out of the NYPD altogether, the department is transferring oversight of its 3,600 agents from the Community Affairs Bureau to the office of controversial Chief of Department John Chell. A plan from the Parks Department’s Marine Unit to reconstruct the Dyckman Marina has the Hudson River Community Sailing group heading for treacherous waters .

SPONSORED Bringing the Money Smart Financial Coaching Program to CUNY  Sound financial health helps set the foundation for strong and resilient households, communities and economies. That’s why JPMorganChase helped launch a new organization aimed at enhancing financial health and academic outcomes for college students called the Money Smart Financial Coaching Program, or MSFCP.org. The program, which combines financial coaching and education into one course, originated at SUNY Westchester Community College and is now offered at seven colleges and universities across New York. By leveraging local Chase Community Managers as guest lecturers, the initiative aims to improve students' financial skills, academic performance, and graduation rates. Learn more about the new nonprofit organization’s impact through the CUNY system. Member FDIC. Equal Opportunity Lender.  © 2025 JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Friday, Aug. 22 and Sunday, Aug. 24 : Head to The Bronx to catch “Dominicano Soy 2025 — Los Lechones de Carnaval: From Santiago to NYC,” an exhibition of handcrafted Lechón masks by master artisan Manuel de Jesús Jiménez and his son Jovvany Jiménez. Tickets are free but donations are encouraged.  Saturday, Aug.  23: Capture the bounties of summer with NYC Parks in its final watercolor workshop of the season. The session begins at noon until 2 p.m. at the Austin J. McDonald Playground on Staten Island. Register by Saturday, Aug 23. Sunday, Aug. 24: Come out for a day of exhibitions, live interviews and performances of Guyana’s Masquerade. Free from noon to 6 p.m. at Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park.

THE KICKER: Watch where you’re going in South Slope this Saturday, the neighborhood is celebrating its 18th annual derby on 17th Street between 5th Ave. and 6th Ave.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.

Love,

THE CITY

PS. Love THE CITY? Our nonprofit newsroom is powered by readers like you. Donate here.

Want to view Scoop in your web browser? Click here.

THE CITY's work is made possible, in part, through the support of our sponsors. Interested in becoming a sponsor of THE CITY? Contact us here.  Copyright © 2024 THE CITY, All rights reserved.