Jesse Hamilton, a close ally of Mayor Eric Adams who appointed him to oversee the city’s real estate operations, went on a trip to Japan with Adam Clayton Powell IV, a former elected official-turned ed lobbyist. Powell lobbied Hamilton earlier this year on behalf of a Bronx contractor, THE CITY has learned.
The trip to Japan also included Adams’ chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and several other people. Hamilton and Lewis-Martin had their phones confiscated last week by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office when they landed at JFK International Airport from Japan.
Lewis-Martin was also served with a federal grand jury subpoena and had her home raided by the FBI and the city Department of Investigation.
Hamilton succeeded Adams in his state senate seat in Crown Heights but lost re-election in 2018. Adams then made him deputy commissioner in the Department of Citywide istrative Services (DCAS), where he oversees all matters concerning city-owned properties and properties that the city leases.
In disclosure filings, Powell — a former City Council member and State Assembly member — reported that he had a Feb. 21 meeting with Hamilton on behalf of his client Totem Holdings Inc., a contractor that specializes in doing government work. The subject was “determination regarding real property.”
Powell also reported that at some point in May or June 2023, he spoke with Adams and lobbied the mayor’s senior advisor Tiffany Raspberry on behalf of the developer, Fortis Contractors LLC. The subject was “the HERRC program,” a reference to the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers the city set up to house asylum seekers.
Powell served in the City Council in the 1990s, then in the Assembly from 2001 until 2010, when he lost a primary bid for Congress against incumbent Charles Rangel. He gave the mayor’s 2025 reelection campaign $400, the maximum allowed for individuals doing business with the city. Powell also threw a birthday party for Adams in December 2022, according to his Instagram posts at the time.
His client Alexis Pena, president of Totem, made three donations to Adams’ 2025 campaign totaling $1,000. Two of those contributions were made in June and July, after Powell’s meeting with Hamilton.
Powell responded by text to THE CITY’s questions what came of his meeting with Hamilton and whether he paid for any aspect of the Japan trip for either Hamilton or Lewis-Martin.
“Nothing came out of the meeting. Japan was vacation, and everyone paid their way. We’ve been friends for many years,” he wrote.
Pena did not return THE CITY’s calls seeking comment.
A spokesperson for DCAS did not immediately respond to THE CITY’s questions about who paid for Hamilton’s trip to Japan.
Hamilton, Powell and Lewis-Martin had several other companions on the trip, including Lisa Lashley, formerly the director of the mayor’s office of appointments, and Diana Boutross, a vice president at the real estate brokerage Cushman Wakefield.
Cushman has a retainer agreement with DCAS to provide real estate advice to the city. Its latest contract with the agency started in September 2022 with an original amount of up to $40 million. As of this week the firm had been paid $8.6 million.
A spokesperson for Cushman declined to comment on Boutross.
