Manhattan prosecutors accused former Eric Adams aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin of using her influence to benefit landlords with business before the city in exchange for bribes and gifts.

Mayor Eric Adams and former adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin at a City Hall press conference in 2023 ( Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.)

In a wide-ranging indictment Thursday, Manhattan prosecutors accused former Eric Adams aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin of four counts of bribery, including several instances of her using her influence to benefit landlords with business before the city in exchange for bribes and gifts.

In the first count, prosecutors alleged that Lewis-Martin helped property owner Tian Ji Li secure leases with New York City to house asylum seekers, over the objections of a city employee who said a site was “problematic.” Lewis-Martin and her son also allegedly expedited decisions and approvals by the New York Fire Department and Department of Buildings for a karaoke club in Queens. Li paid her son $50,000 for the efforts and threw “lavish” parties for Lewis-Martin. “I want you all to go back to the sites for TJ Li,” Lewis-Martin told Hamilton, according to the indictment. “I need those done…whatever site TJ wants, I need him to get them. Because that’s our f***ing people.”

Lewis-Martin also intervened, the indictment said, on behalf of developer Yechiel Landau to help his Red Hook affordable housing project jump the line at the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD). Lewis-Martin pressured Deputy Mayor for Housing Maria Torres-Springer and HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrion, who resisted—but the first part of the project closed in December 2024. “We gotta get that place [HPD] under control, so when we f***ing tell them something, we expect them to make that s*** move,” Lewis-Martin wrote in a text message to Landau. In exchange, Landau paid for and ran renovations at Lewis-Martin’s house and the home of Jesse Hamilton, the former deputy commissioner for real estate services at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

Finally, Lewis-Martin intervened to secure permits for a residential renovation for an unnamed co-conspirator in exchange for $10,000 worth of seafood catering for events at Gracie Mansion and City Hall in spring and summer 2024, the indictment alleged.

Prosecutors said that Lewis-Martin and her son received over $75,000 in benefits, $50,000 of which was direct kickbacks of taxpayer money from migrant shelter contracts. Both have pleaded not guilty, according to the New York Times.  

Here’s what else happened this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

Incentives for landlords to hold units for CityFHEPS voucher holders will continue, at least temporarily, after a court appearance Thursday where lawyers for the City of New York stated their intention to send the rule change through an official public review process. The city wants to do away with the bonus payments in an effort to rein in CityFHEPS spending, though advocates say it that would make it even harder for people to use their vouchers.

NYCHA is looking to partner with more private developers to create new housing near its campuses.

Homeless New Yorkers are disproportionately vulnerable to increasingly hot weather, says one outreach group looking to provide refuge. “The people we serve are often the ones who feel the impact of these changes most, and they can’t escape it.”

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

Monthly eviction numbers in the city’s housing courts have returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to Gothamist.

Tenants at Carnegie House, dubbed “the only remaining affordable building” on Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row, are facing a 450 percent rent hike, the New York Post reports.

Trump’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will now only offer its materials in English, a move that critics say will make it harder for non-English speakers to access affordable housing and other needed services, according to the New York Times.

Just how many apartments would be subject to a rent freeze if mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani gets his wish? City & State breaks down the numbers on the city’s stabilized and non-stabilized housing stock.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

The post Adams’ Official Accused of Taking Bribes to Help Projects Jump the Line, and What Else Happened This Week In Housing appeared first on City Limits.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press

China’s Pop Mart says it is rolling out a mini version of its popular Labubu plush toys this month, along with a new long-fur version of the toothy little monster.

The Labubu, by artist and illustrator Kasing Lung, first appeared with pointed ears and pointy teeth, in three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology in 2015.

In 2019 Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart, a company that caters to toy connoisseurs and influencers, to sell Labubu figurines. But it wasn’t until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere.

This image provided by Pop Mart shows Pop Mart’s Labubu Rock The Universe (Pop Mart via AP)

Pop Mart said Friday that the mini-sized Labubu vinyl plush pendant, which is part of The Monsters Pin For Love series, will be available in various colors corresponding to letters of the alphabet. They will cost $22.99 each.

The series also includes 30 letter pendant blind boxes, each with a unique pattern and Monsters charm. They will be priced at $18.99 a piece.

In addition, Pop Mart is launching the Rock the Universe vinyl plush doll, which is part of The Monsters Big Into Energy Series. The plush, which will have a pearl-and-alloy heart necklace, will be the first of the Monsters to have long fur and uses a specialized dyeing technique that ensures no two figures are exactly alike. The dolls will cost $114.99 each.

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All of the new products will be available starting Aug. 29 on Pop Mart’s website either for in-store pickup or shipping. They will also be available on the company’s app and its official TikTok accounts.

Labubu has been a bonanza for Pop Mart. Its revenue more than doubled in 2024 to 13.04 billion yuan ($1.81 billion), thanks in part to its elvish monster. Revenue from Pop Mart’s plush toys soared more than 1,200% in 2024, nearly 22% of its overall revenue, according to the company’s annual report.

Earlier this week Pop Mart reported that its profit attributable to shareholders skyrocketed almost 400% for the first six months of the year. Revenue jumped more than 200% to 13.88 billion yuan ($1.93 billion). Revenue for the Asia Pacific region surged more than 250%, while revenue for the Americas soared more than 1,000%.

By STEVE PEOPLES and JILL COLVIN

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump stood among several hundred law enforcement officers, National Guard troops and federal agents at a U.S. Park Police operations center in one of Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous neighborhoods. As the cameras rolled, he offered a stark message about crime, an issue he’s been hammering for decades, as he thanked them for their efforts.

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“We’re not playing games,” he said. “We’re going to make it safe. And we’re going to then go on to other places.”

The Republican president is proudly promoting the work of roughly 2,000 National Guard troops in the city, loaned by allied governors from at least six Republican-led states. They’re in place to confront what Trump describes as an out-of-control crime wave in the Democratic-run city, though violent crime in Washington, like dozens of cities led by Democrats, has been down significantly since a pandemic high.

Trump and his allies are confident that his stunning decision to dispatch troops to a major American city is a big political winner almost certain to remind voters of why they elected him last fall.

Democrats say this is a fight they’re eager to have.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, an Army veteran, cast Trump’s move as a dangerous political stunt designed to distract the American people from his inability to address persistent inflation, rising energy prices and major health insurance cuts, among other major policy challenges.

“I’m deeply offended, as someone who’s actually worn the uniform, that he would use the lives of these men and women and the activation of these men and women as political pawns,” Moore told The Associated Press.

Trump’s extraordinary federal power grab comes as the term-limited president has threatened to send troops to other American cities led by Democrats, even as voters voice increasing concern about his authoritarian tendencies. And it could be a factor for both sides in elections in Virginia and New Jersey this fall — and next year’s more consequential midterms.

Inside the White House strategy

The president and White House see Trump’s decision to take over the D.C. police department as a political boon and have been eager to publicize the efforts.

The White House offered a livestream of Trump’s Thursday evening appearance, and on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a surprise visit to Union Station, D.C.’s busy transit hub, to thank members of the National Guard over Shake Shack burgers.

Each morning, Trump’s press office distributes statistics outlining the previous night’s law enforcement actions, including total arrests and how many of those people are in the country illegally.

President Donald Trump speaks with members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The strategy echoes Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, which has often forced Democrats to come to the defense of people living in the country illegally, including some who have committed serious crimes.

A White House official, speaking on background to discuss internal deliberations, dismissed concerns about perceptions of federal overreach in Washington, saying public safety is a fundamental requirement and a priority for residents.

Trump defended his efforts during an interview on “The Todd Starnes Show” Thursday.

“Because I sent in people to stop crime, they said, ‘He’s a dictator.’ The real people, though, even Democrats, are calling me and saying, ‘It’s unbelievable’ how much it has helped,” he said.

The White House hopes to use its actions in D.C. as a test case to inspire changes in other cities, though Trump has legal power to intervene in Washington that he doesn’t have elsewhere because the city is under partial federal control.

“Everyday Americans who support commonsense policies would deem the removal of more than 600 dangerous criminals from the streets of our nation’s capital a huge success,” said White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers. “The Democrats continue to be wildly unpopular because they oppose efforts to stop violent crime and protect law-abiding citizens.”

Democrats lean in

Moore, Maryland’s Democratic governor, suggested a dark motivation behind Trump’s approach, which is focused almost exclusively on cities with large minority populations led by Democratic mayors of color.

“Once again, we are seeing how these incredibly dangerous and biased tropes are being used about these communities by someone who is not willing to step foot in them, but is willing to stand in the Oval Office and defend them,” Moore said.

Even before Trump called the National Guard to Washington, Democratic mayors across the country have been touting their success in reducing violent crime.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who leads the Democratic Mayors Association, noted that over half of the 70 largest Democratic-led cities in the country have seen violent crime decrease so far this year.

People rally against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops along the U street corridor in northwest Washington Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“He’s stoking racial division and stoking fear and chaos,” Bibb said. “We need someone who wants to be a collaborator, not a dictator.”

Democratic strategists acknowledge that Trump’s GOP has enjoyed a significant advantage in recent years on the issues of crime and immigration — issues Trump has long sought to connect. But as Democratic officials push back against the federal takeover in Washington, party strategists are offering cautious optimism that Trump’s tactics will backfire.

“This is an opportunity for the party to go on offense on an issue that has plagued us for a long time,” said veteran Democratic strategist Daniel Wessel. “The facts are on our side.”

A closer look at the numbers

FBI statistics released this month show murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the U.S. in 2024 fell nearly 15% from a year earlier, continuing a decline that’s been seen since a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike.

Meanwhile, recent public polling shows that Republicans have enjoyed an advantage over Democrats on the issue of crime.

A CNN/SSRS poll conducted in May found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults said the Republican Party’s views were closer to their own on crime and policing, while 3 in 10 said they were more aligned with Democrats’ views. About 3 in 10 said neither party reflected their opinions. Other polls conducted in the past few years found a similar gap.

Trump also had a significant edge over Democrat Kamala Harris on the issue in the 2024 election. About half of voters said Trump was better able to handle crime, while about 4 in 10 said this about Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of the American electorate.

At the same time, Americans have expressed more concern about the scope of presidential power since Trump took office for a second time in January.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in April found that about half of U.S. adults said the president has “too much” power in the way the U.S. government operates these days, up from 32% in March 2024.

The unusual military presence in a U.S. city, which featured checkpoints across Washington staffed in some cases by masked federal agents, injected a sense of fear and chaos into daily life for some people in the nation’s capital.

At least one day care center was closed Thursday as childcare staff feared the military action, which has featured a surge in immigration enforcement, while local officials raised concerns about next week’s public school openings.

Moore said he would block any push by Trump to send the National Guard into Baltimore.

“I have not seen anything or any conditions on the ground that I think would justify the mobilization of our National Guard,” he said. “They think they’re winning the political argument. I don’t give a s—- about the political argument.”

AP writers Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is calling national security and privacy concerns related to TikTok and its Chinese parent company “highly overrated” and said Friday he’ll keep extending the deadline for the popular video-sharing platform until there’s a buyer.

Congress approved a U.S. ban on TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sold its controlling stake. But Trump has so far extended the deadline three times during his second term — with the next one coming up on Sept. 17.

“We’re gonna watch the security concerns,” Trump told reporters, but added, “We have buyers, American-buyers,” and “until the complexity of things work out, we just extend a little bit longer.”

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The first extension was through an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court — took effect. The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement.

His comments follow the White House starting a TikTok account this week.

“I used TikTok in the campaign,” Trump said.

“I’m a fan of TikTok,” he said. “My kids like TikTok. Young people love TikTok. If we could keep it going.”

As the extensions continue, it appears less and less likely that TikTok will be banned in the U.S. any time soon. The decision to keep TikTok alive through an executive order has received some scrutiny, but the administration has not faced a legal challenge in court — unlike many of Trump’s other executive orders.

Americans are even more closely divided on what to do about TikTok than they were two years ago.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren’t sure.

Among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about 8 in 10 cited concerns over users’ data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.