All over New York City, palms are getting greased.
This week granted us not one, but two corruption scandals in New York City politics, both touching on real estate.
First, the Department of Buildings’ former supervisor Jake Udeh was federally indicted over allegations that he took about $75,000 in bribes from construction companies.
The majority of these bribes allegedly came from one owner: Jih Yeuan “Mike” Hwang, owner of Hwang’s Construction Management Corporation. Prosecutors say Hwang paid Udeh to influence more than 250 construction approvals from 2021 to 2025. He paid “as little as $500” for construction approvals, according to the Manhattan District Attorney, but also threw in flights to Japan and Paraguay, along with hotel rooms.
Nathan Semmel, a defense attorney for Udeh, said the supervisor does not appear to have approved any questionable projects and there are no suggestions that he put New Yorkers at risk.
“Fortunately the evidence provided so far suggests little more than administrative steps allegedly taken to reduce the review process time by only a matter of days,” he said via email.
A defense attorney for Hwang couldn’t be reached by press time.
The second case involves a nonprofit that received city homeless shelter contracts. Federal prosecutors last week accused two former employees of BHRAGS Home Care Corp of embezzling more than $1.3 million from the organization via fake investments as well as steering business to vendors in return for kickbacks. The two pleaded not guilty. BHRAGS did not respond to a request for comment.
Now, federal law enforcement is probing whether City Council member Farah Louis and her sister Debbie Louis accepted bribes in return for steering city funds to BHRAGS, according to the Associated Press. Federal investigators raided the homes of the two sisters, Politico reported. Farah Louis’s district office declined to comment. Debbie Louis did not respond to a request for comment.
Those are this week’s big cases, but other corruption allegations continue to reverberate. The case of Eric Ulrich, a buildings commissioner for Mayor Eric Adams, will go to trial in September, City & State reported. Prosecutors allege Ulrich helped expedite building and health inspections in return for $3,000 and Mets season tickets. He has pleaded not guilty.
And who could forget about Eric Adams’ own indictment that said he pressured the fire department to approve a 36-story skyscraper that would have failed inspection, in return for travel benefits and bribes. Trump’s Justice Department later dropped the indictment, saying it was distracting Adams from helping with a federal immigration crackdown, but not before eight federal prosecutors resigned in protest.
If criminal indictments are any indication, corruption is alive and well in New York City politics. And real estate and construction are ripe venues for it.
There are a couple of possible takeaways from these reports. I can see an argument that if the city cut red tape around buildings and construction there would be less incentive for corruption. However, there will always be some safety standards hurdles to overcome, and subsequently, bad actors looking to circumvent them.
You could also argue that the indictments show New York is increasingly cracking down on corruption in buildings and construction. In the case of Udeh and Hwang, the investigation started when other Department of Buildings employees voiced their suspicions about the supervisor. The department said it’s putting additional oversight on attempts to transfer jobs between offices, as Udeh did.
“Public trust in government can only be achieved if New Yorkers know that our laws and regulations are being enforced equitably,” Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said in a statement. “The allegations referenced in the indictment of preferential treatment in exchange for cash [erode] the foundation of that public trust.”
What we’re thinking about: I’m interested in the ebb and flow of foreign capital in New York’s commercial real estate sector. Wanna chat? I’m at lilah.burke@therealdeal.com.
A thing we learned: Despite the fact that trading markets are closed today for Good Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor is still on the job. It released its March employment numbers today, showing the economy added an unexpectedly strong 178,000 jobs.
Elsewhere in New York…
— Short-term rentals are all but banned in the five boroughs but nearby Hoboken, New Jersey, stands to cash in on FIFA World Cup travel this summer, Gothamist reports.
— New York City lost 20,000 jobs in 2025, a far cry from the 40,000 jobs that experts estimated would be created that year. The biggest change was in health care jobs, as reported by The City.
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is urging Gov. Hochul not to expand the footprint of the Cross-Bronx Expressway, Politico reports.
Closing time
Residential: The largest residential sale Friday was $11 million for 45 Warren Street, PH. The Tribeca penthouse is 4,500 square feet and last sold in 2012 for $6.3 million. Compass’ The Hudson Advisory Team has the listing.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale was $46 million for a commercial condo unit at 127 Kent Avenue. The condo is part of the 43-unit, new development building in Williamsburg.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $11.7 million for 1 Central Park West, Unit 40CD. The Upper West Side condo at Trump International is 3,900 square feet. The Corcoran Group’s Steve Gold and Scott Hernandez have the listing.
— Joseph Jungermann
