The Rent Guidelines Board’s leadership repeatedly communicated with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office in the months leading up to June's vote to freeze rents on the city's stabilized apartments, according to texts and emails filed as evidence in court on Thursday.

The communications include a draft of the RGB’s explanatory statement, sent by RGB Chair Chantella Mitchell to Deputy Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Housing Arvind Sindhwani, on June 16, more than a week before the official vote.

The initial batch of produced communications was filed in court on the same day that rents were frozen on more than 1 million New York City apartments. Landlords have contested the unprecedented 0% increase on one- and two-year leases, claiming that the independent board’s process was illegally influenced by the mayor. 

“It is standard for the RGB to communicate as needed with other government entities, including the Mayor’s Office, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders,” Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement. “This year, communications were limited, non-substantive, and in no way reflect any attempts to influence the outcome of the vote.”

A four-year rent freeze was a central campaign promise by Mamdani.

Though the mayor appoints board members, the nine-person body is supposed to base its decision solely on the data and testimony provided by researchers, advocates, landlords and tenants. The information is presented in public hearings over several months leading up to the vote. 

Last week, Richmond County Supreme Court Judge Brendan Lantry ordered more than two dozen top city officials and RGB members to turn over their phones and emails for inspection. 

In a letter to the judge, the city’s top attorney, Steven Banks, wrote that there is “absolutely no merit” to the accusations and that the process was conducted with the “utmost honesty, integrity, and independence.”

There were 101 emails between Mitchell and Sindhwani, who Banks said is the “designated point of contact at City Hall for logistical and liaison matters related to the RGB in the current administration.” He pointed out that in 2025, there were 228 emails between then-RGB Chair Doug Apple and then-Mayor Eric Adams' City Hall point of contact.

But the plaintiff’s attorneys, which consist of a team from Rosenberg & Estis and Dechert co-chair Randy Mastro — who served as deputy mayor under Adams — said the search produced nearly 1,000 documents in total, spanning 3,000 pages. 

“What our review of this initial production has revealed, however, is that the contacts between City Hall and the RGB were not only substantial, but also shocking, in that they show coordination and collaboration throughout the RGB’s process,” Mastro wrote in a letter to the judge. 

Text messages indicate that Mitchell and Sindhwani spoke multiple times over the phone between February and April. In addition to scheduling hearing dates, they also discussed key RGB reports.

“Sending my PIOC notes now – please take a look before we chat, if at all possible,” Sindhwani wrote before a call on April 3, referring to the RGB’s Price Index of Operating Costs report. 

The annual report provides information on rising costs for rent-stabilized apartments. Other reports allegedly discussed include the RGB’s Income and Expense Study and the Mayor’s True Cost of Living Report.

In an email, Sindhwani also requested that the RGB provide its agenda, timeline of reports and hearings, and underlying data for Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg’s understanding of the process. 

“This was a particularly curious request because Bozorg was already very familiar with the RGB’s reports since, immediately before becoming Mayor Mamdani’s Deputy Mayor, she had served as Mayor Adams’ Director of Housing,” Mastro wrote. 

The search also revealed texts between Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, and UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla, who was appointed as the board’s public member. In a message, Weaver encouraged him to join the board, stating that his participation is “very very critical for us.”

Mamdani also texted Mancilla to congratulate him on his appointment, though the messages do not indicate any further communication. 

Banks pointed out in his letter that Mastro and his chief policy adviser, Reggie Thomas, also previously communicated with the RGB while working under Adams. Apple confirmed in an interview with Gothamist that he had private conversations with Mastro.

“He had an interest in the outcome and wanted to understand what we were thinking and advocated for a low vote,” Apple told the outlet.

Rauschenbach called Thursday's filing “pure misdirection,” adding that “the only party that has worked to compromise the independence of the RGB is plaintiff’s counsel last year.”

Mastro disagreed with claims that his conversations as a civil servant were equivalent to those he alleged happened under the Mamdani administration.

There is “a world of difference between conveying to the board chair that the mayor disagreed with the board’s decision and orchestrating” what he told Gothamist was “a sham process with a preordained outcome to do exactly what the Mayor dictated and promised in his campaign.”

Landlords have complained that Mamdani and the RGB ignored the challenging conditions that make operating rent-stabilized housing difficult, including the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, rising interest rates and surging operating costs. 

If the judge rules in landlords’ favor, the rent freeze would be overturned. Last year’s 3% increase would be reinstated. 

“I am confident in the Rent Guidelines Board's, their decision, their independent decision and the Law Department's continued defense of what they have done and the fact that they made that decision on the basis of all the information that they had in front of them,” Mamdani said of the lawsuit Thursday morning during an unrelated press conference.