The city Department of Investigation (DOI) is looking into the actions of a longtime associate of Mayor Eric Adams whom the mayor put in charge of city leases, including a last-minute decision to rent space from a big donor to the mayor’s legal defense fund, THE CITY has learned.
Jesse Hamilton, the deputy commissioner for real estate at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), steered a lease to an office tower at 14 Wall St., whose owner had raised donations for the trust set up to pay lawyers representing the mayor in his ongoing corruption case.
The examination of the 14 Wall St. deal is just one aspect of a broader inquiry into Hamilton’s activities as the official in charge of the city’s leasing from private sector building owners as well as buying and selling city property, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to THE CITY on the condition of anonymity.
That inquiry is also looking at potential conflicts of interest between Hamilton, a protégé of the mayor who once held the state senate seat in Brooklyn previously held by Adams, and Diana Boutross, the Cushman & Wakefield real estate broker assigned to be DCAS “tenant representative” in leases worth millions of dollars.
Boutross receives a commission from private landlords based on the rent agreed to by DCAS, including on three deals approved by Hamilton. Boutross, Hamilton, and Adams’ chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, were among a group that vacationed in Japan in September, then had their phones seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office when they landed at JFK Airport.
A spokesperson for DOI declined to comment.
THE CITY first red-flagged the 14 Wall St. deal following the law-enforcement searches, noting that DCAS had moved to lease space from the tower a few months after the owner, billionaire Alexander Rovt, had raised $15,000 for Adams legal defense fund. Two executives from the real estate firm handling the deal for DCAS, CBRE, then contributed another $4,200 to the mayor’s 2025 campaign.
After the City Council scheduled hearings on Hamilton’s involvement in DCAS leases, officials confirmed a report in Politico that Hamilton intervened to favor 14 Wall St. after underlings had already given a “best and final offer” to lease space for the Department for the Aging at 250 Broadway.
During the Council hearing, DCAS Commissioner Louis Molina defended the deal in response to questioning by Councilmember Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn), claiming the 14 Wall St. lease would save the taxpayers $31 million.
Molina testified that the 250 Broadway deal cost more per square foot and would require taxpayers to pay for $10 million in renovations, while he said 14 Wall St. is move-in ready. But sources familiar with the matter later said Molina misspoke and that the landlord of 250 Broadway would be required to pay for the upgrades under the tentative deal DCAS had worked out.
DCAS has refused THE CITY’s multiple requests to release the full financial analysis it performed in seeking office space for DFTA. The final lease has not yet been signed.
Since revelations about the 14 Wall St. deal surfaced, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer began reviewing all DCAS leases, and has paused negotiations on the 14 Wall St. lease while that review is ongoing.
During that same Council hearing, Molina confirmed that Boutross and Hamilton had been involved in pitching DCAS to purchase a warehouse in the South Bronx, known as the Bronx Logistics Center. That included Hamilton posting an unusual video on his Facebook page that he distributed to city agency heads touting the benefits of the privately owned warehouse.
Boutross and Hamilton met with Molina to discuss the purchase weeks after they’d had their phones seized by the DA following their trip to Japan.
Under questioning by Restler, Molina conceded that DCAS had decided not to go through with the warehouse purchase.
