New York City Mayor Adams’s administration has faced another official investigation, with Jesse Hamilton, deputy commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), being stopped and had his phone confiscated at Kennedy Airport (JFK) upon his return from Japan last week.
Hamilton, a former state senator, currently serves as the deputy commissioner of DCAS, overseeing the city government’s extensive real estate investment portfolio.
According to the New York Daily News, on September 27, Hamilton and Adams’s chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, returned from a vacation in Japan only to be met by investigators from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office at the airport, who seized their phones. Sources revealed that also accompanying them to Japan was Diana Boutross, vice chairman of real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield. It is unclear at this point whether investigators are also looking into Boutross. On the same day, investigators from the DA’s office also raided Lewis-Martin’s residence in Brooklyn and confiscated her devices. Additionally, federal authorities issued a subpoena to Lewis-Martin at the airport, reportedly requiring her to provide testimony related to Adams’s campaign activities to a grand jury.
Both Lewis-Martin and Hamilton have not been federally charged with any misconduct.
Hamilton is a close political ally of Adams, who took over his district seat after Adams transitioned from state senator to Brooklyn Borough President in 2014. Last year, Hamilton was appointed as the deputy commissioner of DCAS by Adams. While the reasons for the investigators seizing the phones of Lewis-Martin and Hamilton remain unclear, Lewis-Martin’s name has surfaced in the bribery indictment of former Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich.
As of now, Hamilton, DCAS, the Mayor’s Office, the DA’s office, and Boutross have declined to comment on the matter. However, Lewis-Martin’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, asserted that they have not committed any wrongdoing and are not the focus of federal or DA investigations.