Adams Donor Weihong Hu Is Accused of Taking Millions From Covid Housing Program

Weihong Hu, a hotelier with close ties to Mayor Eric Adams, stole tens of millions from a temporary housing program that was designed to stop the spread of Covid-19 in New York’s jails, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.Ms.Hu, along with two other defendants, Julio Medina and Christopher Dantzler, conspired to steal from the housing program, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of New York.The program, which was set up in April 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus, involved releasing inmates and housing them in hotels around the city.

It partnered with a nonprofit organization called Exodus, founded and run by Mr.Medina, to place them.

Mr.Dantzler was the president of a company that provided security to Exodus.Ms.

Hu is a prominent donor to Mr.Adams and has been linked to a federal investigation of a political action committee that was formed to support Mr.

Adams’s agenda.A Queens hotel owned by Ms.

Hu that New York uses for shelter was raided by the authorities in November, according to The City, a nonprofit news outlet.The three defendants were arrested and were set to be arraigned before U.S.Magistrate Judge James R.

Cho on Thursday.Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Ms.Hu, said that she was a “victim, not a co-conspirator.” Lawyers for Mr.

Medina and Mr.Dantzler could not immediately be reached.This is a developing story and will be updated....