Four men accused of rigging bids in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Buffalo Billion” program to revitalize upstate New York were convicted of all charges against them, including the Albany scientist Cuomo tapped to help him build in Buffalo and Syracuse.
Alain Kaloyeros, a former “rock star” in the Cuomo administration, was convicted of all three counts against him, including conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud.
Also convicted on Thursday were Kaloyeros’ three co-conspirators, all upstate developers: Louis Ciminelli, the ex-CEO of construction company LPCiminelli, and Steven Aiello and Joe Gerardi of Cor Development.
Kaloyeros, who looked straight ahead as the verdict was read, faces as much as 60 years in prison when sentenced on Oct. 11.
Ciminelli and Aiello were convicted on counts including wire fraud and face as much as 40 years. Gerardi, who was convicted of an additional count of making false statements to the FBI, faces 45 years in prison when sentenced on Oct. 15.
The verdict marks the second time a former Cuomo crony has been convicted in a public corruption case this year — prompting criticism from his political opponents in an election year.
“We’re supposed to believe that Andrew Cuomo, a notorious micromanager, had no idea what his right-hand man was doing right under his nose?” Cuomo’s Democratic opponent and former “Sex and the City” star, Cynthia Nixon, said in a statement.
In March, the governor’s former aide Joe Percoco — who has been likened to a brother to the governor — was convicted of using his political clout to pocket more than $300,000 in bribes from executives with two companies.
The jury in the “Buffalo Billion” case deliberated for two days following an 11-day trial that accused the men of working with a fifth man, corrupt lobbyist Todd Howe, to introduce language into the application process for construction contracts to ensure LPCiminelli and Cor Development would be picked as the clear winners.
The application for the Buffalo project, for example, requested only construction companies based in Buffalo with 50 years experience because that would help LPCimineli, the evidence showed.
The 50-year requirement raised so many eyebrows it was quickly changed to 15 years, prosecutors said.Kaloyeros steered the lucrative state contracts for projects in Buffalo and Syracuse to LPCiminelli and Cor Development because Howe, the Cuomo’s administration’s “eyes and ears” on Kaloyeros, directed him to, the feds said.
At the time, Howe was getting paid as a lobbyist by all the parties involved — and Kaloyeros was hoping that Cuomo would help make him head of his own campus, which ultimately happened, the evidence showed.
“There can be no tolerance for those who seek to defraud the system to advance their own personal interests,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“Anyone who has committed such an egregious act should be punished to the full extent of the law.”
Howe, a government cooperator, has pleaded guilty in this case as well as in the Percoco case and is in prison awaiting sentencing.