{"id":257346,"date":"2026-06-06T07:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/257346\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T07:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:56:13","slug":"zohran-mamdani-gives-nyc-nonprofit-bhrags-200m-in-contracts-amid-indictment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/257346\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani gives NYC nonprofit BHRAGS $200M in contracts amid indictment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mamdani administration gave a troubled Brooklyn nonprofit $200 million in city contracts \u2014 two months after its leaders were indicted<\/a> on bribery and corruption charges, The Post confirmed.<\/p>\n

Homeless shelter operator BHRAGS Home Care will collect on at least two new contracts \u2014 one for $136 million covering shelter facilities for homeless adults and another for $50 million encompassing social services in hotels, city records show.<\/p>\n

But the nonprofit will have to work with the city under an independent monitor, according to Gothamist, which first reported<\/a> Friday on the cushy contracts.<\/p>\n

BHRAGS Home Care will reap $200 million in city contracts, even after a federal indictment against its leaders, according to a new report. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n

BHRAGS executive director Roberto Samedy and its former board chairman, Jean Ronald Tirelus, are accused of raking in $1.3 million by siphoning money from the nonprofit and taking kickbacks.<\/p>\n

The indictment against the duo, along with two codefendants, was unveiled in March amid a swirl of suspicion around several prominent city Democrats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BHRAG had received more than $450,000 in discretionary funds from City Councilwoman Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn). <\/p>\n

The feds had raided the home of Louis and her sister Debbie Louis, an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, in February. Neither sister were arrested or charged with wrongdoing. <\/p>\n

Samedy and Tirelus both pleaded not guilty the charges.<\/p>\n

Officials in Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration defended sticking with BHRAGS, despite the looming federal criminal case.<\/p>\n

BHRAGS executive director Roberto Samedy pleaded not guilty to the charges. Steven Hirsch for NY Post<\/p>\n

The nonprofit\u2019s former board chairman Jean Ronald Tirelus likewise pleaded not guilty. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cBy appointing a monitor selected and managed by the [Department of Investigation], the city is better positioned to hold new leadership accountable and properly rehabilitate the organization,\u201d Neha Sharma, spokesperson for the Department of Social Services, told Gothamist.<\/p>\n

DSS didn\u2019t return The Post\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mamdani administration gave a troubled Brooklyn nonprofit $200 million in city contracts \u2014 two months after its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14476,7022,397,57,9,6202,56,63,65,64,58,82],"class_list":["post-257346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bribery","tag-corruption","tag-indictment","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-nonprofits","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257346","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=257346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}