Feds Raided Homes Of Nyc Councilmember Farah Louis And Her Sister, Mother Says

NEW YORK — Federal investigators, some with their guns drawn, raided the homes of New York City Councilmember Farah Louis and her sister last week, seizing their cellphones and breaking down a door to get inside, their distraught mother told POLITICO on Wednesday.

The March 23 raids were conducted as part of a federal investigation that exploded into public view earlier this week, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York indicted four men connected to a city homeless shelter provider on bribery and fraud charges.

As part of the investigation that led to the indictment, prosecutors have probed whether Councilmember Louis and her sister, Debbie Esther Louis, accepted kickbacks in exchange for steering city funds to the shelter provider, BHRAGS Home Care, according to a search warrant first reported by The Associated Press.

Debbie Esther Louis is a staffer in Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration. Edu Hermelyn, a lobbyist and the husband of Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, is reportedly also named in the search warrant as someone the feds are looking at in connection with the BHRAGS probe.

The Louis sisters and Hermelyn have not been accused of wrongdoing.

Last week’s raids, which have not been previously reported, indicate the feds believe the sisters at a minimum may have evidence of wrongdoing on their electronic devices.

Speaking outside her Brooklyn home Wednesday afternoon, the Louis sisters’ mother, Vesta Louis, told POLITICO federal agents barged into her daughters’ homes in simultaneous pre-dawn raids on March 23 and confiscated their cellphones and other electronics.

At Farah Louis’ home, the agents, some wielding guns, broke down her front door to get inside as the Council member was still sleeping, her mother said. Debbie Esther Louis’ 4-year-old daughter was at home when agents arrived at her home, where agents gained access after her husband let them in, her mother also said.

“They’re scared to stay home,” Vesta Louis said of her daughters. “They’re just speechless, they can’t talk. Can you imagine? You’re sleeping in your bed, and you saw a bunch of people walking into your bedroom with guns?”

The mother shared pictures showing the cracked doorframe at Farah Louis’ home.

A person with knowledge of the raid said agents broke down the Council member’s door after she refused to open it. Before agents breached it, the Council member told them she would not open up before speaking to her attorney, said the person, who was granted anonymity to divulge details about a law enforcement action.

Vesta Louis said she does not know of any connection her daughters may have to the shelter provider. But she told POLITICO she’s confident her daughters did nothing wrong.

“We are a Christian family, we don’t deal with monkey business,” she said. “We deal with church and God and our jobs.”

A spokesperson for the Eastern District declined to comment.

Councilmember Louis, who serves as the chair of the chamber’s Zoning Subcommittee, has not been seen at City Hall since news broke that her name was listed in a federal search warrant. Council Speaker Julie Menin said Wednesday that she needs “more information” before determining whether Louis’ committee assignments should be modified.

“Based on the information we find out, we'll take appropriate course of action at that time,” the speaker said.

Hochul’s administration placed Debbie Esther Louis on leave from her position as an assistant secretary of intergovernmental affairs after the raid at her home.

As previously reported by POLITICO, Councilmember Louis has earmarked at least $71,000 in discretionary funding for BRHAGS since taking office in 2019. She has also accepted more than $2,600 in campaign contributions from BHRAGS employees, including $875 from Roberto Samedy, the shelter provider’s former executive director who is among the four men indicted this week, city records show.

A spokesperson for Councilmember Louis did not return a request for comment Wednesday and her sister could not be reached. A person who spoke to POLITICO through a Ring camera at Councilmember Louis’ home Wednesday said she was not there.

BRHAGS, which isn’t named in the indictment, has held city contracts worth more than $200 million, according to municipal procurement records.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that his administration will "definitely be looking into” BHRAGS’ active contracts in light of this week’s indictment.

Most of BHRAGS’ contracts were issued after 2022, when former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration started spending billions of dollars on emergency shelter services to accommodate an influx of mostly Latin American migrants. Many of the Adams administration’s migrant shelter contracts came under scrutiny from local elected officials and budget watchdogs, who argued the money was being spent with very little oversight.

Councilmember Louis endorsed Adams for mayor in 2021 and was close with members of his administration.

According to civil lawsuits, a top Adams administration official, Tim Pearson, spoke openly of how he wanted to get “crumbs” for himself off of the migrant shelter contracts the administration issued. Pearson’s home was raided by federal agents in fall 2024, reportedly in connection to an investigation looking into kickbacks on migrant shelter contracts.

Adams was indicted in September 2024 on unrelated corruption charges alleging he accepted bribes and illegal campaign contributions, mostly from Turkish government operatives, in exchange for political favors. President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice quashed that indictment last year as part of a controversial deal that the presiding judge said smacked of a political “bargain.”

With additional reporting by Gelila Negesse and Joe Anuta.