Then Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Ingrid P. Lewis-Martin (second from right) in this June 2020 photo, as
then Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams (left) presented a proclamation to Guyanese-born Sandra Chapman,
a former Deputy Brooklyn Borough President, on her retirement. Others in photo are from left: Former
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and former Borough Hall chief-of-staff Carlo A. Scissura, Esq.(right)
Photo by Nelson A. King
Caribbean Life, JANUARY 21-27, 2022 3
By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General Letitia
James on Tuesday took legal action
to compel former President Donald J.
Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka
Trump to appear for sworn testimony
as part of the office’s ongoing civil
investigation into the Trump Organization’s
financial dealings.
The motion to compel filed on Tuesday
seeks a court order enforcing testimonial
subpoenas issued to Donald J.
Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka
Trump, as well as the production of
documents held by Donald J. Trump.
As the papers filed Tuesday make
clear, “each of the individuals was
directly involved in one or more transactions
under review.”
Earlier this month, the Trumps filed
a motion to quash these interviews,
and the papers filed on Tuesday by the
attorney general oppose that motion.
Since moving to compel the testimony
of Eric Trump in August 2020,
the Office of the Attorney General
(OAG) has collected significant additional
evidence indicating that the
Trump Organization used fraudulent
or misleading asset valuations to
obtain a host of economic benefits,
including loans, insurance coverage,
and tax deductions.
While OAG has not yet reached a
final decision regarding whether this
evidence merits legal action, James
said the grounds for pursuing the
investigation are “self-evident.”
The OAG filed Tuesday’s motion to
get necessary testimony and evidence
from high-ranking corporate personnel
with close involvement in the
events under investigation to determine,
among other things, their relevant
knowledge about those events.
By Nelson A. King
Mayor Eric Adams recently announced
Chaplain Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the
daughter of Barbadian and Panamanian
parents, as chief advisor to the mayor.
In that a role, Adams said Lewis-
Martin, who was Deputy Brooklyn Borough
President, when Adams was president,
will work in partnership with the
first deputy mayor, chief of staff and all
direct reports to the mayor “to support
operations at City Hall and advance the
administration’s strategic policies and
priorities.”
“We are building a team that knows
how to get stuff done, and my chief advisor
has a proven track record of getting
stuff done for New Yorkers left behind
by government for far too long,” Adams
said. “This is a 24/7/365 administration,
working around the clock to make this
city a safer and greater place to raise
healthy children and families, and leading
a robust and equitable revival that
lifts up every one of us.”
Prior to her role as Deputy Brooklyn
Borough President, Lewis-Martin, who
was born in Brooklyn, served for more
than five years as then-New York State
Senator Adams’ senior advisor and for
seven years as his chief of staff.
“It is an honor to serve this city
and continue working in partnership
with Mayor Adams, who has been a
great champion for New Yorkers,” Lewis-
Martin said. “We will get stuff done in a
truly historic way, reaching out to every
corner of our communities and delivering
common-sense leadership that will
unlock government’s full potential.”
Adams said Lewis-Martin’s political
career started in 1983, first volunteering
on the re-election campaign for the
late Representative Major R. Owens, who
represented the then 11th Congressional
District in Brooklyn, and later serving as
deputy campaign manager.
After receiving her license from the
New York City Board of Education,
Adams said Lewis-Martin was hired as
a middle school teacher in English and
social studies at I.S. 320 Jackie Robinson,
her alma mater.
She taught at the school from 1984
to 1992, also serving as dean of students,
graduation coordinator, as well as
a teacher of modern and African dance in
the after-school programs.
Adams said Lewis-Martin was later
hired by Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College,
first to work as an instructor in
one of its programs geared at assisting
women on welfare earn their high school
diploma and college degree.
Lewis-Martin subsequently served as
director of Medgar Evers College’s Progressive
Adolescent Vocational Exploration
(PAVE) program, which allowed
high school students to earn a maximum
of 12 college credits within four years.
She has also served as a part-time
staffer for former New York State Assembly
Member Roger Green.
Adams’ appointment of Lewis-Martin
as chief advisor comes on the heels of
his selection of someone of Caribbean
heritage to a high-profile position in his
administration.
On Friday, the newly-elected mayor
named Barbadian-born Justice Sylvia O.
Hinds-Radix as the City’s Corporation
Counsel, becoming the first Caribbeanborn
woman to serve in that capacity in
the City’s history.
As Corporation Counsel, Justice
Hinds-Radix will lead the City’s Law
Department, which is primarily responsible
for providing legal representation
to the City, the mayor, other elected officials,
and City agencies in all affirmative
and defensive civil litigation.
Justice Hinds-Radix, who currently
serves as an Associate Justice of the New
York State Appellate Division, Second
Department, a position she was appointed
to in 2012, conducted the mayor’s
swearing-in ceremony, on Jan. 1, at the
Times Square New Year’s Celebration in
midtown Manhattan.
New York State Attorney General,
Letitia James. REUTERS/Brendan
McDermid, File
Adams names Ingrid Lewis-
Martin as chief advisor
AG takes
action on
Trump
probe