A former supervisor for the Department of Buildings and a trio of developers are facing charges over an alleged bribery scheme.
Jake Udeh is accused accepting bribes to fast-track construction approvals, according to an indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. Udeh allegedly scored more than $75,000 in bribes, spread across hundreds of jobs.
He faces up to 15 years in prison on the bribery charge alone.
Udeh is accused of accepting hundreds of bribes between June 2021 and March 2025, when he resigned from the agency. Prosecutors say most of those bribes came from Jih Yeuan Hwang, a Great Neck man who is accused of providing more than $65,000 for upwards of 250 expedited projects.
The indictment references text messages between Udeh and the developers that often cite specific projects and dollar amounts in exchange for cash, which Udeh would pick up in person.
Udeh charged between $500 and $1,000 for each project expedition, and covered expenses for personal trips to Japan and Paraguay, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors also indicted Hwang, 50; Anson Tse, 40; and Shiming Tam, 70. Each developer was charged with identical conspiracy and bribery felonies. Tam’s been listed as architect on several notable projects in recent years, including an 18,000-square-foot, five-story residential building at 18-28 Avenue in Gravesend, Brooklyn.
All four defendants pleaded not guilty and were released from custody. Their next court date is scheduled for July 9.
An attorney for Udeh told the New York Post that the “allegations would be a stark contrast” to his client’s personality, referring to his role as a father and a charitable presence in his native Nigeria.
Acting Department of Investigations commissioner Christopher Ryan ordered a DOB audit of the projects tied to the alleged scheme to ensure safety is not compromised.
The indictment follows other bribery charges against a former DOB official. In January, a state Supreme Court judge dismissed bribery and other charges against Mark Caller, a developer with Marcal Group, throwing out one of five indictments accusing former DOB Commissioner Eric Ulrich of corruption.
But the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office plans to proceed with the four remaining indictments against Eric Ulrich and other defendants; the former is set to go to trial in September.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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