A Staten Island businessman who alleges he lost out on an $8M real estate contract after refusing to pay a $250K bribe is seeking compensation from the city government and Cushman & Wakefield, claiming they failed to properly oversee their employees.
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Attorneys for Mazen Dayem filed an amended complaint this month in a case he first brought in July, when he alleged that former city real estate head Jesse Hamilton, along with Cushman Vice Chairman of Brokerage Sales Diana Boutross, tried to extract a bribe from him for business with the city government and cut him out of deals when he refused. Dayem's updated suit adds the city government and Cushman as defendants as well as new claims that the building's owners breached their contract by working directly with Boutross.
Dayem is now asking for up to $52M in compensation from the brokerage, Boutross, Cushman Executive Vice Chairman Gus Field, Hamilton, the building’s owners and the city government for the alleged breach of contract.
“He's fighting for his life here,” attorney for the plaintiff Alex Estis, member at law firm Rosenberg & Estis, told Bisnow on Friday. “He's fighting for his reputation, and he was wronged.”
Spokespeople for the Department for Citywide Administrative Services and Cushman & Wakefield didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Boutross didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, and Hamilton couldn't be reached for comment.
The suit is the latest allegation of corruption against the agency that oversees the NYC government’s real estate department during Mayor Eric Adams' administration, following a blockbuster series of allegations that ended with indictments filed by the Manhattan District Attorney last year against Hamilton and another Adams aide. Hamilton pleaded not guilty and resigned after being charged with one count of conspiracy.
Boutross and Hamilton were at the center of another corruption scandal under Adams after allegations surfaced that Hamilton insisted landlords work with Boutross, who had formerly specialized in retail, to lease office space for city agencies.
The pair were part of a group that had their cellphones seized by the DA in October 2024 as they landed from a trip to Japan, described to Bisnow at the time as “eight friends” who had gone on a trip together.
Dayem claims he was retained last year by Madison Capital and Salmar Properties, owners of a 1.3M SF office building at 850 Third Ave. in Sunset Park, to consult on leasing the space on their behalf as they negotiated with DCAS.
Dayem was supposed to help building ownership in its interactions with two city agencies, the Fire Department of New York and the Department of Homelessness Services, and was slated to earn $8M from the contracts, he claims.
But in July 2025, Hamilton allegedly told Dayem that the FDNY contract couldn’t go ahead unless Dayem paid the civil servant $250K and brought Boutross on as the tenant broker. Dayem declined to pay, and did so again to Boutross when she allegedly asked for the fee at a walk-through two weeks later.
In February, Dayem claims that a representative for owners Madison and Salmar breached the contract by communicating directly with Boutross to lease space in the building to the Administration for Children’s Services. The group conspired to cut him out of the process by requiring him to meet unreasonably tight deadlines or have his contract canceled, he alleged.
Dayem initially sued in July, but his attorneys submitted an updated complaint on Oct. 9 asking a judge to hold both the city and Cushman accountable.
He claims that the city failed to investigate prior complaints, warnings and disciplinary filings about Hamilton using his role at DCAS “to further his own personal interests in violation of the public trust and to engage in wrongful conduct.”
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“The City knew or should have known that Hamilton was unfit, incompetent, reckless, or otherwise posed a foreseeable risk of harm to members of the public,” Dayem's attorneys wrote in the Oct. 9 amended complaint.
They also allege that Cushman violated the state of New York's property law by failing to adequately supervise or discipline Boutross and Field until it was too late and that Dayem’s business relationship with the landlords “had already been irreparably damaged,” the updated complaint states.
“My client's willing to do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this, not just to try and do right by him, but to really do better so hopefully that other people that get elected see what happens here and don't do this to other people,” Estis said.
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