A Staten Island consultant says a Brooklyn real-estate play that could have made him millions got hijacked by an old-school shakedown. In a newly filed lawsuit, he accuses a former top city real-estate official and a Cushman & Wakefield broker of demanding a $250,000 “side payment” to clear two city leases at a Sunset Park property.
The complaint claims that once he refused to pay, the deals stalled and he was ultimately pushed out of the project. Along with the two individuals, the suit names Cushman & Wakefield, Madison Capital and Salmar Properties, and seeks tens of millions of dollars in damages.
Allegations in the complaint
According to The Real Deal, plaintiff Mazen Dayem says he signed a consulting agreement in July 2025 to oversee construction and handle lease negotiations with the FDNY and the Department of Homeless Services for space at 850 Third Avenue in Brooklyn.
The lawsuit states that the contract promised Dayem $4 million for each completed city lease at the property. The complaint alleges that Jesse Hamilton, then the Department of Citywide Administrative Services deputy commissioner for real-estate services, told Dayem the leases would move forward only if Hamilton personally received a $250,000 payment.
Roughly two weeks later, the suit says, Cushman & Wakefield broker Diana Boutross repeated the demand during a walkthrough at the building. When Dayem again refused, she allegedly warned him, “You will regret this.”
Dayem is seeking roughly $36 million from Hamilton, Boutross and Cushman & Wakefield and another $8 million from the building’s owners, Madison Capital and Salmar Properties.
What this reveals about city leasing
As reported by Bisnow, the lawsuit lands in the middle of broader scrutiny over how DCAS has steered city leasing and how private brokers end up on lucrative government accounts.
Investigators previously seized phones from Hamilton and Boutross after a trip to Japan, according to prior reports, and earlier lawsuits have claimed that Cushman & Wakefield and political allies funneled certain brokers to the front of the line for city business. The new complaint slots into that pattern, offering another example of how private real-estate interests and city-leasing politics can collide.
Legal context
The filing is a civil lawsuit, so it does not carry criminal penalties on its own. It does, however, raise fresh questions about where routine city contracting ends and alleged pay-to-play conduct begins.
Hamilton resigned from DCAS after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him last year, per The Real Deal. That criminal case is separate from Dayem’s lawsuit, and Hamilton has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will act on the new allegations, and future court filings are expected to determine what happens next. Dayem’s civil case is still pending, and the court has not yet set a schedule for motions or a trial.
Cushman & Wakefield, Boutross and the building owners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
