Amid an unfurling federal corruption probe into City Councilmember Farah Louis, the Daily News has learned that the Brooklyn rep has been embroiled in a messy internal council investigation.
Louis informed the City Council she intends to sue former Speaker Adrienne Adams’ office for disparate treatment and retaliation towards her — and for $10 million. Louis said that treatment came after she filed a formal complaint against her former chief of staff for taking medical leave.
In a notice of claim against the City Council, Louis accused the speaker and her staffers of “outrageous, extreme and malicious actions” intended to stunt her political career and asked for $10 million in damages in the notice, filed in February — the first step toward filing a lawsuit against the city.
The investigation stems from a complaint Louis herself made about her chief of staff taking leave in the summer of 2025. The staffer, Shona Duncan, in turn filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against Louis.
Duncan did not comment, and Louis and her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.
“This is a baseless lawsuit by an elected official seeking to take away $10 million dollars from the City and services New Yorkers depend on,” Mandela Jones, a former spokesperson for Adams said in a statement.
The notice of claim came a day after Gov. Hochul selected Adams to be her running mate in her re-election bid. That move angered Brooklyn Democratic leader Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, an ally of Louis.
Louis wrote in the notice of claim that she had been informed about the existence of a 45-page report containing equal employment opportunity-related allegations against her by former staffer members, including Duncan.
The feds are separately probing whether Louis and her sister, who works in intergovernmental affairs for Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider, according to search warrants obtained by The Associated Press.
The city’s Department of Investigation is also looking into allegations of bribery, sources familiar told The News. The DOI declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Hochul confirmed to the Daily News that Debbie Louis was placed on leave last week after the governor learned of the federal investigation.
According to the AP, search warrants also name Edu Hermelyn, the husband of state Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
The feds are reportedly investing whether the three received bribes in exchange for actions taken on behalf of BHRAGS Home Care, a nonprofit that provides in-home services to the sick and elderly but expanded to also include emergency shelters for migrants. BHRAGS have received city contracts totaling over $200 million since 2022, city records show.
The councilmember did not return a request for comment.
Louis alleged in her notice that the report was delivered to Julie Menin, by then the incoming speaker, by the Council’s top lawyer, Jason Otaño. Otaño allegedly told Menin’s administration that if they offered Louis a Council leadership position, the report would be leaked to the press.
“The threat of releasing said report was intentional behavior designed to impact Claimant’s upward mobility, deprive Claimant of leadership opportunities, additional funding resources and damage Claimant’s reputation,” Louis wrote.
Louis wrote in the filing that she was later told the report did not exist. Otaño declined comment.
“New Yorkers deserve confidence in their government,” Henry Robins, a spokesperson for Speaker Menin, said in a statement. “It is essential that the federal investigation proceed fairly and expeditiously to bring this matter to a resolution.”
Robins declined to comment on ongoing matters within the Council.