University head also has been charged with fraud
By Larry Neumeister
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal prosecutor on Thursday accused two people close to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of bribery and fraud relating to state economic development initiatives in a significant blow to Cuomo’s administration that threatens to tarnish his efforts to revitalize the upstate economy.
Joseph Percoco, Cuomo’s former executive deputy secretary, and Alain Kaloyeros, president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, are among eight who face charges, according to a criminal complaint by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. As the leader of SUNY Polytechnic, Kaloyeros was instrumental to Cuomo’s efforts to bring high-tech jobs to upstate New York.
A Cuomo spokesman declined to respond publicly when contacted by The Associated Press. Percoco’s lawyer and Kaloyeros weren’t initially available for comment.
According to the federal complaint, Percoco took more than $315,000 in bribes from 2012 through 2016 to Syracuse-based COR Development and Competitive Power Ventures, an energy company looking to build a power plant in the Hudson Valley. Todd Howe, a consultant for the two companies and former Cuomo associate, set up bank accounts and a shell company to funnel bribes, including payments to Percoco’s wife, the complaint said.
The complaint says Howe pleaded guilty to several federal charges, including conspiracy to commit fraud, extortion, bribery and wire and tax fraud. He is now cooperating with federal authorities.
Peter Galbraith Kelly, an executive at Competitive Power Ventures, is accused in the complaint of conspiracy and paying bribes to Percoco. The company, based in Braintree, Massachusetts, didn’t immediately reply to queries.
Authorities accused Percoco of conspiring with Kaloyeros and Howe to rid bidding in the Buffalo Billion project and deceive Fort Schuyler, the state-funded entity awarding the lucrative contracts, so they would go to Syracuse-based COR Development and Buffalo contractor LPCiminelli. They said Kaloyeros, who oversaw the application process for many of the state grants, retained Howe to help him, and Howe in turn solicited and received bribes.
“Howe worked with Kaloyeros to deceive Fort Schuyler by secretly tailoring the required qualifications for those development deals” so COR and LPCiminelli would win the contracts “without any meaningful competition,” the complaint said.
Also charged in the complaint are two executives at COR Development — Steven Aiello and Joseph Girardi — and three executives at LPCiminelli: Michael Laipple, Kevin Schuler and CEO Louis Ciminelli.
Ciminelli and COR didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The eight individuals facing charges are all expected to appear in court Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has scheduled a news conference at noon to discuss the case.
The federal probe revealed a web of individuals and businesses tied to Cuomo that were poised to profit from the Buffalo Billion, Cuomo’s signature effort to boost New York’s second largest city, as well as Nano, an initiative effectively led by Kaloyeros that aimed to bring high-tech jobs to the upstate.
Percoco was long known as one of Cuomo’s most loyal advisers, a political enforcer who worked for his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo. He was Andrew Cuomo’s $156,000-a-year executive secretary when he resigned in 2014 to lead Cuomo’s re-election campaign. At the funeral of his father last year, Cuomo called Percoco “my father’s third son who sometimes I think he loved the most.”
According to state financial disclosures, Percoco also made as much as $125,000 by becoming a consultant for COR Development and CHA Consulting, two firms involved in Buffalo Billion and Nano. The firms are also big Cuomo political donors.
Cuomo said Percoco told him he might take consulting clients. But he never asked Percoco to identify them.
Percoco rejoined the administration in late 2014 and received a $20,000 raise from his old salary before quitting a second time in January to become a vice president at Madison Square Garden.
Cuomo’s office said in April that Bharara was examining possible undisclosed conflicts of interest and improper bidding related to the Cuomo’s efforts to attract high-tech jobs upstate. The administration also launched an internal review and Cuomo promised to “throw the book” at anyone found to be violating the law.
