JRT Realty Accuses Cushman & Wakefield of Defamation

As authorities probe New York City’s leasing of office buildings — part of the scandal engulfing the Adams administration — a brokerage has filed a legal action naming the Cushman & Wakefield broker at the center of the investigation.

JRT Realty filed a summons alleging defamatory statements by Cushman’s Diana Boutross, Gus Field and Ron LoRusso to the city agency in charge of office leasing.

The filing came as Mayor Eric Adams’ top aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin resigned in expectation of being indicted, and scrutiny intensified over decisions by the agency, known as DCAS.

In September prosecutors seized phones from Boutross, Lewis-Martin and Jesse Hamilton, deputy commissioner of real estate at DCAS, as they returned from a trip to Japan. The authorities were probing possible bribery and money laundering involving the city’s commercial property leases, according to the New York Times.

JRT’s summons could signal that a formal complaint against Cushman & Wakefield is in the works. JRT declined to comment or provide further details about the nature of the alleged defamatory statements.

“If and when a complaint is filed, we will review and respond accordingly,” a spokesperson for Cushman & Wakefield said in a statement.

Public comments in October point to a fraying relationship between Cushman and JRT, a commercial brokerage led by Jodi Pulice. Cushman tapped JRT as a subcontractor on its leasing work with DCAS in 2011, which helped meet the contract’s goal of hiring a certain percentage of minority- or women-owned businesses.

But when Cushman’s contract was recently extended, Boutross took over the account from Cushman’s Bob Giglio in 2023 and woman-owned JRT was pushed to the side. The MWBE target was changed from 31 percent total to 10 percent each for female-, Black- and Latino-owned firms.

“There was a contractor, JRT Realty, who has been working with Cushman & Wakefield for years, providing excellent services with Cushman,” City Council member Lincoln Restler said to DCAS Commissioner Louis Molina during an October hearing. “Since Diana Boutross came in, the subcontractors were slashed.”

In an interview, Restler said it was his understanding that the city’s chief diversity officer, Michael Garner, met with Hamilton, Boutross and JRT Realty multiple times to question why JRT’s participation in Cushman’s contract has been reduced, but was “rebuffed” by Hamilton and Boutross.

The Council member had noted at the hearing that Boutross’ expertise appeared to be in retail leasing, not office transactions.

“I think the question of why Diana Boutross and Cushman Wakefield are getting so much more money at the expense of MWBEs, despite her total lack of experience in office leasing, is an open question that all New Yorkers should be asking right now,” Restler said.

DCAS officials have indicated that CBRE represents two-thirds of city agencies on office leasing deals, and Cushman handles the rest. The agency wants to increase the number of commercial brokerages it works with to five, and expects to extend its two existing contracts in the meantime.

City agencies are required to have goals for hiring minority- and women-owned businesses. Generally speaking, contractors have to show good-faith efforts to meet these goals.

Meanwhile, investigations into the Adams administration are ongoing. Leasing activity has inspired other city-level probes, according to nonprofit publication The City. The administration recently paused the Department for the Aging’s office lease at 14 Wall Street amid reports that Hamilton steered it to a building owned by an Adams ally.