"It would be inappropriate for me to confirm or deny the existence of any investigation like that," Schwartz said.
Sources close to the probe said the feds have been asking questions about Kelly's chief of staff, Chris Wright, as well as the Council office's relationship with city real-estate developers Hardeep and Ravinder Chawla - longtime friends and supporters of Kelly.
Wright did not respond to a message left by the Daily News at his office.
Kelly said he had faith in his chief of staff.
"My relationship with him has been good," he said. "I'd be shocked if anything was out of the ordinary."
Hardeep Chawla yesterday said he didn't know that federal investigators had been asking about his relationship with Kelly's office.
"They haven't interviewed me," Chawla said. "Nobody approached me about this matter. I have no knowledge of it."
His brother, Ravinder, did not respond to Daily News messages left at his office and home yesterday.
Kelly declined to answer questions about the Chawla brothers.
His relationship with the two real-estate developers, who have large holdings in Northeast Philadelphia and a growing stock of Center City properties, came under scrutiny last year, when three of their partnerships gave a combined $30,000 to Kelly's re-election campaign.
Under the city's new campaign-finance laws, contributions are annually limited to $2,500 from an individual and $10,000 from a partnership or political action committee.
Andrew Teitelman, the Chawlas' lawyer, said the city Board of Ethics has requested information from the partnerships - Sant Properties, Philadelphia Chancellor LP and 11501 Roosevelt Partners LP. He said they were in the process of providing it.
"It's a back-and-forth," said Teitelman, who also served as Kelly's campaign treasurer. "I do owe them some information."
