Among those arrested were BHRAGS Home Care Corp. President Jean Ronald Tirelus and its executive director Roberto Samedy. Edouardo St.
Fort, a retired NYPD sergeant who ran a security company linked to BHRAGS, is in custody in Massachusetts, and a fourth vendor, Miguel Jorge, was in custody Tuesday. St. Fort is under indictment on charges including conspiracy, bribery involving federal funds, and unlawful interstate travel.
The investigation has expanded to include political figures, with all four arrested individuals named in a search warrant signed March 19 that seeks information about communications between BHRAGS and Farah and Debbie Louis. Prosecutors are seeking information about whether the Louis sisters and Edu Hermelyn, husband of state Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, received benefits in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS. The sisters were not among those arrested Tuesday, and Debbie Louis has been placed on leave from the governor's office.
Contract irregularities have emerged, with St. Fort's company Fort NYC Security working as a subcontractor for BHRAGS, where the city agreed to pay over $7 million for security services at homeless shelters since 2023. Five of six contracts awarded to Fort NYC Security were done on an emergency basis, bypassing normal bidding processes.
BHRAGS received its first contract to run an emergency migrant shelter in 2022, as an influx of asylum seekers began arriving in the city. The existence of a search warrant doesn't necessarily indicate that prosecutors plan to bring criminal charges.