JRT Realty is doubling down on its lawsuit against Cushman & Wakefield.
The firm is now going after individual brokers, including Diana Boutross, and adding allegations to its complaint that the brokerage violated its contract in its lucrative dealings with the city.
In an amended complaint filed late Wednesday, JRT added Boutross, Gus Field and Ron Lo Russo as defendants in the lawsuit filed last month. The original complaint only named Cushman, accusing the firm of defamation and interfering with its business relationship with the city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
At the heart of the lawsuit is Cushman’s contract representing the city in leasing private office space. JRT alleges that Cushman wrongfully terminated its subcontracting agreement working on DCAS leases, after tapping Boutross to take over the contract. JRT says it was shut out so Cushman wouldn’t have to share future commissions, including on the city’s potential purchase of the Bronx Logistics Center. The firm also alleges that Cushman erroneously blamed JRT’s “performance issues” for its firing to eliminate JRT as competition.
The city is planning to issue a new request for proposals to hire five brokerages to work on these deals.
The lawsuit was filed amid increased scrutiny around Boutross and Jesse Hamilton, who oversees the city’s 22 million square feet of office leases at DCAS. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized their phones in September, as they were returning from vacation with Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s former top aide who was indicted in December in connection to a bribery scheme.
Neither Boutross nor Hamilton have been charged, but the seizures led to questions about their influence over city office leases and whether they steered these deals to specific landlords. The Department of Investigation, along with the comptroller, is probing the city’s leases as a result.
The amended complaint describes additional drama around Boutross’ hiring. Before she was officially appointed to replace Robert Giglio in August 2023, Boutross bragged to CEO Jodi Pulice that she would get the job, according to the lawsuit. Boutross also allegedly peppered Pulice with questions about DCAS before securing the gig.
When Pulice repeatedly told Boutross that DCAS deals were extremely complicated, Boutross was dismissive and showed that she had faith in her ability to take over: “Don’t worry. I have a rabbi,” she told Pulice, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint also notes that at a lunch with Cushman’s Todd Schwartz, John Santora and Boutross, Hamilton pointed at Boutross and said, “She is my broker.”
JRT alleges that various Cushman & Wakefield leaders were “furious” that she was hired “instead of a broker with actual experience in government and office leasing.”
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Lo Russo and Field were added to the team, but Boutross was the “single point of contact” on the DCAS account. Mark Mandell, a 30-plus veteran of Cushman who specializes in office deals, was originally poised to join the team, according to the lawsuit.
In its response to the lawsuit, Cushman blamed the city’s change in goals for hiring minority- and woman-owned businesses. The city changed the MWBE target from a 31 percent total to 10 percent each for female-, Black- and Latino-owned firms. Cushman could no longer meet those goals by working solely with JRT and moved to cut ties with the company on future DCAS projects, according to Cushman.
The brokerage also described a deterioration in their relationship with JRT, blaming Pulice’s disapproval of Boutross.
In its response to the lawsuit, Cushman indicated Pulice would roll her eyes when Boutross spoke in meetings and that JRT representatives would copy clients on emails when they disagreed with Boutross. Cushman called this behavior unprofessional, but JRT counters that if a man was in Pulice’s position, the firm would single out Pulice’s behavior, citing previous litigation against Cushman related to gender discrimination. (The latest lawsuit does not directly allege gender discrimination.)
In a statement, a Cushman spokesperson said the amended complaint “further perpetuates JRT’s inaccurate claims.”
“We believe they are using these filings as a way to achieve other commercial objectives,” the spokesperson said. In supporting its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Cushman said JRT was interfering with its relationship with DCAS, rather than attempting to compete fairly for the new contract.
JRT filed its amended complaint just a few days after another dark cloud hanging over the Adams administration was abruptly swept away.
The Department of Justice instructed prosecutors in Manhattan to dismiss charges against the mayor, citing that the timing of the charges “improperly interfered” with the mayor’s 2025 mayoral campaign and inhibited Adams’ ability to enforce President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The case, which has not yet been formally dismissed, could still be revived after the November election.