Federal grand jury subpoenas seek documents from DECD and Minority Business Initiative on McCrory and Cicero-Hamlin, including “any personal and non-professional relationship” between them.

Federal criminal authorities have cast a wide net in their investigation of state Senator Douglas McCrory and public funds distributed to a host of non-profit agencies. Two grand jury subpoenas command the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and the Minority Business Initiative (MBI) to provide documents in their possession regarding non-profit agencies that received state funds through grant programs, some of which the legislature did not subject to traditional reporting and review standards.

The subpoenas seek more than funding records. They also require the agencies to provide any documents concerning any personal or non-professional relationship between Douglas McCrory and Sonserae Cicero-Hamlin. Cicero-Hamlin is associated with Society of Human Engagement and Businesses Alignment, LLC, SHEBA, LLC, SHEBA Resources Center, Inc., and SHEBA Consulting, LLC. The subpoenas seek documents pertaining to those organizations, for which McCrory has been an aggressive advocate for funding.

The details of the subpoenas confirm last weekend’s Courant story on the federal criminal investigation into funding of non-profit organizations in the past several years when both state and federal governments were poring millions into Hartford non-profit organizations, prompted by the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a developing story.

Published August 6, 2025.