Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City Council member and her sister, an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks connected to city funding for a Brooklyn nonprofit that provides in-home care and later expanded into migrant shelters, according to a search warrant copy obtained by The Associated Press.
The warrant, signed March 19 and dated in connection with a federal probe announced by AP, targets evidence of possible criminal violations involving Councilmember Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat, and Debbie Louis, who is listed as Hochul’s assistant secretary for New York City intergovernmental affairs.
The same warrant also names Edu Hermelyn, the husband of state Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. Hermelyn chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party, according to the AP account of the warrant.
Hochul’s office confirmed that Debbie Louis was placed on leave last week after the governor learned of the federal corruption investigation, AP reported. A person who answered a phone number listed for Louis hung up after being asked about the probe, AP said. The report also said voicemail messages seeking comment from Farah Louis and Edu Hermelyn were not returned.
According to AP, the warrant seeks information tied to a phone connected to the investigation and asks whether the three individuals received benefits in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS Home Care Inc. The warrant described BHRAGS as a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, and it says prosecutors are seeking communications and money-transfer records involving the officials and a former New York Police Department sergeant who retired in 2023.
AP reported that BHRAGS expanded its mission in 2022 as an influx of asylum seekers began arriving in the city, adding emergency shelters for migrants and other homeless services. It said records show BHRAGS has since received more than a dozen contracts totaling over $200 million from New York City’s Department of Homeless Services.
AP also reported that the warrant seeks records of money transfers and communications between the officials and Edouardo St. Fort, described in the AP account as a former NYPD sergeant who retired in 2023. The report said St. Fort’s security company, Fort NYC Security, received a $3 million contract from the Department of Homeless Services, and that an email and voice message left with St. Fort were not returned.
In a separate response, AP said an attorney for BHRAGS executive director Roberto Samedy declined to comment, and a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn declined to comment.
AP noted that the existence of a search warrant does not necessarily mean prosecutors plan to bring charges. The report said investigators persuaded a magistrate judge to authorize a search and seizure to dig deeper and obtain evidence.
The AP report placed the probe in the context of earlier federal scrutiny of New York City’s shelter contracting. It said that as tens of thousands of migrants overwhelmed the city’s shelter system, former Mayor Eric Adams oversaw the rapid rollout of an emergency shelter network and inked lucrative contacts with service providers. The report said financial watchdogs and critics of Adams had raised concerns about some of those contracts.
Adams later faced federal charges, AP said, related to accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources while he was Brooklyn’s borough president. The report said those charges were dropped by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, which said the case was distracting Adams from assisting with the president’s immigration crackdown.
Both the Louis sisters and Hermelyn are described by AP as prominent fixtures within Brooklyn’s Democratic county committee, which has faced multiple scandals in recent years. AP also said Hermelyn briefly served as a senior advisor to Adams, but resigned over questions about whether his role as a Brooklyn district leader violated rules barring dual government positions, and later advised former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Cuomo’s failed mayoral bid.