Governor Kathy Hochul’s running mate, former NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, allocated $435,000 in taxpayer money to a migrant-shelter provider embroiled in a federal corruption investigation, The Post has learned.
Adams, the Democratic lieutenant governor candidate, provided Brooklyn-based BHRAGS Home Care Inc. with $375,000 in discretionary funds from her speaker’s budget for the period 2022 to 2025, according to Council records. This money was intended for the organization’s senior and youth after-school programs.
Additionally, the Queens politician allocated an extra $60,000 specifically for assisting the mentally ill, as per the records.
Under her leadership, the Council distributed a total of $544,900 to BHRAGS since 2021, the records indicate.
Councilwoman Farah Louis contributed another $72,000, with other council members adding the remaining $37,900, the records show.
Federal authorities are investigating whether Louis; her sister, Deborah Louis, who is Hochul’s assistant secretary for NYC intergovernmental affairs; Edu Hermelyn, husband of state Assemblywoman and Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn; and others took bribes or kickbacks to promote BHRAGS.
The Flatbush-based nonprofit has received $185.4 million in no-bid city contracts since 2022 to provide emergency shelters for migrants and the homeless, according to NYC Comptroller’s Office records.
On Tuesday, the nonprofit’s executive director, Roberto Samedy, former board chairman Jean Ronald Tirelus, and two others associated with BHRAGS were arrested in connection with the corruption investigation, accused of pocketing over $1 million in kickbacks related to city-run migrant shelters.
BHRAGS representatives stated they are “fully cooperating with law enforcement” and that Samedy was placed on administrative leave.
Neither the Louis sisters nor Hermelyn has been charged with any wrongdoing, but Hochul placed Deborah Louis on leave after learning of the investigation.
Adams has not been accused of any misconduct, yet her allocation of taxpayer money to the nonprofit should “raise a million red flags” for federal investigators, said former Councilman Robert Holden, a conservative Queens Democrat.
“If you’re going to go after Farrah Louis, then you’ve got to go after Adrienne Adams,” said Holden, who labeled Adams as “shady” and the “worst speaker in the history of New York.”
“I would say she has a lot more of these red flags than Farah would ever have, because she controlled a lot more money, and [her award-making decisions] were never about merit, it was about whether you align with her politically.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman remarked that Adams needs to address serious questions regarding her allocation of public funds, and he questioned Hochul’s decision to choose the former speaker as her running mate.
“Hochul’s running mate has been exposed for funneling even more taxpayer money to the same company at the center of the scandal,” Blakeman said of The Post’s revelations. “It’s a corrupt cycle—and New Yorkers deserve answers now.”
Louis, along with her sister and Hermelyn, were named in search warrants signed March 19. Despite their efforts to support BHRAGS, Louis is reportedly not in favor of Adams.
Louis has recently filed legal documents indicating her intention to pursue a $10 million lawsuit, alleging that Adams and some Council staffers discriminated against her based on her Haitian heritage, Politico reported. There are at least three other Council members of Haitian descent who have not made similar claims.
Former Councilwoman Diana Ayala (D-Bronx), who was deputy speaker under Adams, defended her longtime ally, asserting that Adams led the Council “with honor and integrity — and any claim otherwise is simply false.”
“Anyone who’s worked with Adrienne Adams knows that her leadership is beyond reproach – she would never approve designating funds to any organization that didn’t pass the council’s rigorous vetting process,” Ayala said.
“At the time that the funding in question was approved, she and our legal team understood this organization to be providing quality services to New Yorkers after clearing that extensive process.”
The Hochul-Adams campaign informed The Post on Friday that the former speaker has not been subpoenaed or contacted by federal investigators regarding the probe.
Campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika criticized Blakeman’s comments, alleging that under his leadership, “corruption became the name of the game in Nassau County, where literal donors he picked to oversee the county jail and Long Island’s lifeline hospital almost ran both into the ground.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, which is managing the investigation, declined to comment.
