{"id":181114,"date":"2026-03-31T18:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/181114\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:15:09","slug":"brooklyn-bribery-scheme-feds-indict-four-for-corruption-tied-to-nonprofit-and-possibly-prominent-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/181114\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn bribery scheme: Feds indict four for corruption tied to nonprofit, and possibly prominent officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"US\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Eastern District of New York courthouse in Brooklyn, March 2026.<\/p>\n

Photo by Nina Pullano<\/p>\n

Federal officials arrested four people on Tuesday in connection with an indictment alleging a bribery and kickback scheme involving an NYC nonprofit, according to a notice from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York.<\/a><\/p>\n

The defendants arrested on Tuesday are Ronald Tirelus, Roberto Samedy, Miguel Jorge and Edouardo St. Fort, according to the notice. Tirelus, Samedy and Jorge were due to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on March 31. St. Fort was arrested in Boston and will be arraigned in Brooklyn federal court at a later date.<\/p>\n

The arrests come a day after The Associated Press reported<\/a> that federal prosecutors were investigating whether Brooklyn Council Member Farah Louis, her sister Debbie Louis, an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Edu Hermelyn, husband of Brooklyn Democratic Party chair and Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider.<\/p>\n

According to the AP, a search warrant signed March 19 sought evidence of possible criminal violations involving Farah Louis, Debbie Louis and Edu Hermelyn. The warrant said prosecutors were seeking information about whether the three received benefits in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS Home Care Inc., a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that provides in-home services to the sick and elderly.<\/p>\n

The AP reported that in 2022, as asylum seekers began arriving in the city in large numbers, BHRAGS expanded its mission to include emergency shelters for migrants and other homeless services. Records cited by the AP show the nonprofit has since received more than a dozen contracts totaling over $200 million from the city\u2019s Department of Homeless Services.<\/p>\n

The AP also reported that the warrant sought records of money transfers and communications between the officials and Edouardo St. Fort, a former New York Police Department sergeant who retired in 2023. That same year, records cited by the AP show, his security company, Fort NYC Security, received a $3 million contract from the Department of Homeless Services.<\/p>\n

amNewYork confirmed with Hochul\u2019s office that Debbie Louis was placed on leave.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDebbie Louis was placed on leave immediately upon our office learning of a federal investigation last Wednesday,\u201d a spokesperson for Hochul\u2019s office said.\n<\/p>\n

Neither Farah nor Debbie Louis, nor Edu Hermelyn, have yet responded to requests for comment from amNewYork.\n<\/p>\n

A City Council spokesperson offered this statement to amNewYork with regard to the investigation: \u201cThe Council is closely monitoring the situation based on press reports. New Yorkers deserve confidence in their government. It is essential that the federal investigation proceed fairly and expeditiously to bring this matter to a resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a developing story; check with amNY.com later for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eastern District of New York courthouse in Brooklyn, March 2026. Photo by Nina Pullano Federal officials arrested…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[73071,73072,98,18390,100,99,23837,73073,9467,73074,20745,73075,73076,73077,56110,73078,9,24,73079,63,73080],"class_list":{"0":"post-181114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-bhrags-home-care","9":"tag-bribery-indictment","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-brooklyn-democratic-party","12":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","13":"tag-brooklyn-news","14":"tag-brooklyn-politics","15":"tag-city-council-scandal","16":"tag-department-of-homeless-services","17":"tag-eastern-district-new-york","18":"tag-farah-louis","19":"tag-federal-investigation","20":"tag-government-corruption","21":"tag-kathy-hochul-aide","22":"tag-kickback-scheme","23":"tag-migrant-shelter-contracts","24":"tag-new-york","25":"tag-new-york-city","26":"tag-nonprofit-fraud","27":"tag-nyc","28":"tag-nyc-corruption"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}