Four individuals connected to a company hired by New York City to operate a number of homeless shelters for illegal aliens were taken into police custody on Mach 31, 2026 as part of a federal investigation that is also looking into a City Council member and a top aide for Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. The charges were mostly focused on the two leaders of the nonprofit organization BHRAGS Home Care Corp.
The two individuals are being accused of stealing over $1.3 million from the organization, which is funded by taxpayer dollars. The other two who were arrested are subcontractors who, according to the indictment, paid bribes and kickbacks to the men in exchange for work contracts worth millions of dollars. Investigators have now opened probes into City Council Member Farah Louis and her sister Debbie Louis, an aide to Hochul, to find out whether they accepted bribes related to the appropriation of city funds made to the nonprofit.
However, the Louis sisters were not among the four individuals arrested on March 31. Following news of Debbie Louis being investigated for possible involvement in the scandal, the governor’s office placed her on leave. The indictment goes on to reveal multiple layers of corruption within BHRAGS, which received almost $200 million in contracts from the city’s Department of Homeless Services since 2022.
According to FOX59, prosecutors for the case revealed that Roberto Samedy, the company’s executive director, along with former board chairman Jean Ronald Tirelus, siphoned money from the organization, including a total of $800,000 that was earmarked for “economic growth and affordable housing” in poor, broken down areas of Brooklyn.
The two also received over $200,000 in kickbacks and bribes for guiding certain contracts worth millions of dollars to businesses that were under the control of Edouardo St. Fort and Miguel Jorge, according to the indictment. Three of those arrested, Tirelus, Samedy, and Jorge, all pleaded not guilty through their legal representation in court and were released on bond.
Todd Spodek, Tirelus’ lawyer, said that his client “categorically disputes the charges.” Samedy’s attorney, Seth Zuckerman, stated his client was dedicated to “clearing his name and getting back to the important work BHRAGS is doing in the community.” The fourth person, St. Fort, who formerly worked as a New York City police sergeant, appeared in court, but did not enter a plea. He was also released on bond.
The case was first brought to the attention of authorities by the Department of Social Services, which raised concerns about payments from BHRAGS made to St. Fort’s security company, Fort NYC Security. Joseph Nocella, a U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, stated that the defendants worked as a group “to loot public funds from an organization devoted to serving vulnerable New Yorkers.”
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All four of the men taken into custody and charged this week were mentioned in a search warrant that was originally signed on March 19 and sought communications between the nonprofit, the Louis sisters, and Edu Hermelyn, who works as a political consultant. Hermelyn is married to state Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who is the chairperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
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