Top Adams administration real estate official Jesse Hamilton, who has come under scrutiny by investigators looking into his role in the city’s leasing processes, was a no-show for the second City Council hearing in a row examining his actions.
Department of Citywide Administrative Services spokeswoman Anessa Hodgson blamed Hamilton’s absence on a “medical emergency” Friday morning. She declined to disclose any details about the ex-state senator’s condition or if he had to seek medical attention, saying she’s not permitted to share such information.
Hamilton, the agency’s deputy commissioner for real estate services, has faced backlash from Council members for a Manhattan DA probe that includes scrutinizing his work at DCAS, for his hiring of Diana Boutross, a real estate executive brought on to lead the city’s commercial leasing operations, and for his pushing of a lease agreement at a property owned by a wealthy donor to Mayor Adams.
Hamilton did not immediately return calls and texts Friday.
His phone was taken by agents with the DA’s office after he landed at JFK Airport in September, returning from a trip to Japan he took with Boutross and Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s indicted former chief adviser, who also had their phones seized.
According to a lawsuit filed by another real estate firm, JRT Realty, Hamilton, a friend of Mayor Adams, also pushed firm Cushman & Wakefield to bring on Boutross to lead the firm’s account with the city. The suit claimed Boutross used her ill-gotten position to boost her own bottom line by blocking JRT from business and collecting their commission.
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Kevin C. Downs for New York Daily News Mayor Adams and Jesse Hamilton in 2016. (Kevin C Downs for New York Daily News)
Hamilton previously was asked to testify at a Council hearing in October called to examine his move to pull a lease for the city’s Department of Aging and instead hand it to 14 Wall Street, a property owned by billionaire Alexander Rovt, a major Adams donor.
He skipped that hearing.
At Friday’s hearing, DCAS Commissioner Louis Molina testified Boutross has not had her duties modified or reviewed by his agency despite scrutiny from the DA investigators.
“There has been no review of DCAS of her role in that,” Molina said, adding that the mayor’s office is reviewing the 14 Wall Street lease, and that DCAS is internally reviewing some operations.
