Eric Adams’ pal in crosshairs of law enforcement got hefty pay raise

NEW YORK — One of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' longtime personal friends, who has weathered criticism for his handling of a lucrative lease agreement, received a significant pay raise in his city job during the previous fiscal year.

Public records show Jesse Hamilton scored a more than 18 percent bump at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, where he oversees lease deals between city agencies and private commercial landlords — agreements that have attracted scrutiny from news outlets, elected officials and criminal prosecutors.

Hamilton's pay rose from $213,783 in fiscal year 2023 to $253,239 in fiscal year 2024, which ended over the summer. And while a 6 percent increase was attributable to a standard pay hike given out to all managerial employees, a DCAS spokesperson said Hamilton received a more than 12 percent discretionary bump — a special consideration that eluded other top city officials.

That fattened paycheck incensed Council Member Lincoln Restler, who has been scrutinizing a questionable contract overseen by Hamilton. As first reported by POLITICO last month, Hamilton steered a multimillion lease deal toward a mayoral donor after overruling an internal bidding process.

"Jesse Hamilton remains unqualified for the job of deputy commissioner for real estate services," said Restler, who recently held a hearing on the type of lease deals Hamilton oversees at DCAS. "We need significant oversight and accountability of the work that he has done to date — the notion of him getting a substantial raise is ridiculous."

The DCAS spokesperson, Anessa Hodgson, said Commissioner Louis Molina has made uplifting staff a priority as he seeks to streamline agency operations. As part of that process, she said, he goosed Hamilton's salary to be in line with other senior agency officials.

Hamilton's pay, however, was increased beyond what his predecessor would have earned in the same role, public records show.

A City Hall representative praised Molina's bona fides, but declined to respond to questions about Hamilton.

"Commissioner Molina and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services are experts in their field, and they continue to work to secure the best value for taxpayers while they acquire, sell and lease city property," spokesperson Amaris Cockfield said in a statement.

Hamilton's good fortune came as his prowess at the agency has actually decreased — his authority over lease deals was diluted earlier this year as more power was shifted to his superior in the real estate services division, Molina revealed at last month's hearing.

And because of questions raised about his oversight of the 22 million square feet of office space the city leases from private landlords, Hamilton's actions have triggered a review by First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, who on Tuesday paused a pending lease deal at the downtown office building owned by the billionaire mayoral donor, Alexander Rovt.

Hamilton's special salary bump is just the latest largesse extended to the mayor's political protégé.

Hamilton — who succeeded Adams in the state Senate in 2015 before he was ousted four years later — was hired as a DCAS attorney in August 2022 at a salary of $190,000. Just four months later, City Hall took the unusual step of promoting him to his current deputy commissioner slot. All told, Hamilton has seen his pay increase by roughly a third during his time in city government — despite having no obvious experience that would have qualified him for the job.

Since netting his pay raise, Hamilton has also become ensnared in a law enforcement probe. That investigation is one of several focused on members of the Adams administration and the mayor himself .

In early October, officials from the Manhattan district attorney's office stopped Hamilton at John F. Kennedy Airport upon his return from a trip to Japan. The former state lawmaker had been traveling with one of the mayor's closest aides, Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and a private broker who works with Hamilton on city lease deals worth millions of dollars. Officials took the phones of all three as the DA's office reportedly looks at real estate transactions overseen by Hamilton.

Weeks later, POLITICO reported Hamilton overruled the results of an internal bidding process for one such lease.

Instead of inking a deal for a new Department for the Aging office with the winning bidder, Hamilton steered the lucrative contract to Rovt's landmarked commercial building at 14 Wall St.