Federal criminal charges against four people tied to a contractor that has provided shelter services in New York City are expected to be unsealed on Tuesday as part of a corruption investigation that has also focused on a City Council member and the husband of the Brooklyn Democratic leader, five people with knowledge of the matter said.
Three of the people being charged, including two former officials of the contracting company and a former New York Police sergeant tied to one of its vendors, were taken into custody Tuesday morning, according to the people and court papers. A fourth person, tied to another vendor of the shelter company, was still being sought.
The arrests followed the seizure in recent days of the cellphones of more than half a dozen people by the F.B.I. Those people included Councilwoman Farah Louis; her sister, Debbie Louis, who is an inter-governmental affairs aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul; and Edu Hermelyn, the husband of the Brooklyn Democratic Party chair, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, several of the people said.
No charges have been brought against the council member, her sister or Mr. Hermelyn, a political consultant. The investigation was continuing.
The company, BHRAGS Home Care Inc., is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that offers in-home services to elderly or ailing people and has also provided homeless shelter services, including for migrants.
New York City has for years struggled with a growing homeless population. And more recently, as the city saw a surge in migrants coming from the southern border, it was required by a legal mandate to house them. The influx would prompt city leaders to sign billions of dollars in no-bid contracts.
The investigation, and a search warrant that disclosed some details about the inquiry, were first reported Monday night by The Associated Press, which also reported on one of the arrests Tuesday morning. The pending charges against the three others have not been previously reported.
Neither BHRAGS Home Care nor several of its officials responded to emails and phone messages seeking comment.
Seth Zuckerman, a lawyer for Roberto Samedy, one of the former company officials arrested on Tuesday who had served as BHRAGS’ executive director, declined to comment.
William K. Rashbaum is a Times reporter covering municipal and political corruption, the courts and broader law enforcement topics in New York.
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