Authorities did not disclose what they were looking for in the searches, although Pugh has for weeks been embroiled in a scandal over hundreds of thousands of dollars she received from a series of children’s books she has written over the years.
Agents from the FBI and the IRS executed search warrants at City Hall, at Pugh’s homes and at the Maryland Center for Adult Training, a nonprofit job training program, an FBI spokesman, Dave Fitz, said.
Earlier this month, Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland asked state prosecutors to investigate a $500,000 payment that Pugh received from a nonprofit health care company with ties to the state and city governments for her “Healthy Holly” books, which promoted healthy children’s eating and exercise.
At the time of the arrangement, Pugh, a Democrat, was a state senator and sat on the nonprofit’s board of directors. She resigned from that position after news of the payments became public in March, apologized for oversights she had made on financial disclosure forms and returned $100,000.
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As the payments became public and officials called for her resignation, Pugh took a leave of absence this month after suffering from a bout of pneumonia. She has denied wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the mayor did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday morning.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.