(AP Photo\/Bebeto Matthews, File)<\/p>\n
Federal agents with guns drawn forced their way into the Brooklyn home of New York City<\/a> Councilmember Farah Louis in a pre-dawn raid last month as part of a corruption investigation tied to migrant shelter contracts.<\/p>\n The councilmember\u2019s mother, Vesta Louis, described the March 23 raid as chaotic and frightening in an interview with Politico<\/a> on Thursday, claiming agents broke down Louis\u2019s front door while she was still asleep, seizing phones and electronic devices. She shared photos with the outlet showing the damage.<\/p>\n A person familiar with the raid said agents forced their way in after the councilmember declined to open the door before consulting an attorney.<\/p>\n A second raid took place simultaneously at the home of her sister, Debbie Esther Louis, a staffer in Governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s administration, where agents entered after the staffer\u2019s husband let them in. Her 4-year-old child was present at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re scared to stay home,\u201d Vesta Louis told the outlet. \u201cThey\u2019re just speechless, they can\u2019t talk. Can you imagine? You\u2019re sleeping in your bed, and you saw a bunch of people walking into your bedroom with guns?\u201d<\/p>\n The raids, not previously reported, form part of a federal probe made public days later with indictments against four men linked to a major city homeless shelter provider. Prosecutors are examining whether public officials steered funds in exchange for kickbacks, though neither Louis nor her sister has been accused of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n A search warrant reported by The Associated Press<\/a> shows investigators are looking into potential ties between the sisters and BHRAGS Home Care, a provider that has secured more than $200 million in city contracts. Council records show Louis directed at least $71,000 in discretionary funding to the group and received campaign contributions from its employees, including one of the men indicted.<\/p>\n Hochul\u2019s office has reportedly since placed Debbie Esther Louis on leave, and Farah Louis has not appeared at City Hall since news of the warrant surfaced.<\/p>\n Council Speaker Julie Menin said she is awaiting further details before deciding whether Louis should lose her committee roles, adding: \u201cBased on the information we find out, we\u2019ll take appropriate course of action at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office declined to comment to Politico about the case.<\/p>\n The post Feds Storm NYC Councilmember\u2019s Home, Seize Devices in Pre-Dawn Raid<\/a> first appeared on Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(AP Photo\/Bebeto Matthews, File) Federal agents with guns drawn forced their way into the Brooklyn home of New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[73808,20745,9197,9,56,63,65,64,73807],"class_list":{"0":"post-183413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-debbie-esther-louis","9":"tag-farah-louis","10":"tag-federal-agents","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-vesta-louis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183413","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=183413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}