Joseph Percoco, a former executive deputy secretary to the governor; Alain Kaloyeros, president of the State University of New York’s Polytechnic Institute; and six others were charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan. After Andrew was elected in 2010, he hired Percoco as his executive secretary, earning a salary of $156,000 per year. At around the same time, former Democratic state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted of using his political status to make $5 million in kickbacks through bribes.
Advertisement
Dishonest and corrupt politicians are not exclusive to Albany. A senior NY state official and six others were also named in the complaint.
One of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s closest confidantes who had served as a top aide until early this year is facing federal corruption charges.
Percoco, who is in his late 40s, got his start as a college intern in Mario Cuomo’s administration.
Cuomo, in a statement, said he was saddened and disappointed by the case.
Bharara said the complaint spells out specific, concrete actions that are outside the scope of what the Supreme Court narrowed. Kaloyeros’ pay, the highest among public officials in the state of NY, is based in part on the amount of research money he attracts to the school. “Public trust is job one”.
The complaint also describes another bid-rigging and bribery arrangement: this one involving State University of NY head Alain Kaloyeros, Buffalo developer-and Cuomo mega-donor-Louis Ciminelli and two executives at Ciminelli’s company.
It also comes as State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is charging Kaloyeros and another SUNY Poly board member with felony bid-rigging in connection with several public development projects.
Percoco also received about $35,000 in bribes from Syracuse developers Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi in exchange for his help in reversing an Empire State Development Corporation decision related to a labor dispute, which in turn freed up $14 million in state funds awarded to their company, prosecutors said.
Todd Howe, a lobbyist and a ex-adviser to Cuomo when he led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, pleaded guilty to federal charges and is cooperating.
“Mr. Percoco performed services honestly and within the bounds of the law at all times”, Percoco’s lawyer, Barry Bohrer said in a statement.
Kaloyeros’ attorney, Michael Miller, said his client is innocent and looks forward to being exonerated.
The two heads of the State Legislature and the governor are often referred to as the “three men in a room”-a troika that controls nearly all aspects of New York State government”. The upstate energy company allegedly employed Percoco’s wife at a $7,500/month job when the family needed assistance paying for their $800,000 Westchester home and made large donations to the Cuomo campaign, but ultimately did not get their targeted agreement with the state, according to the New York Daily News. Kaloyeros and Howe secretly asked the developers for qualifications that would be inserted in the Requests for Proposals to minimize competition, authorities said.
The top Federal Bureau of Investigation official in Buffalo said that the corruption scheme and similar ones elsewhere in the state culminated in criminal charges in part because the participants were so careless in their use of email to spell out their plans.
Advertisement
“SUNY has rightly relieved Alain Kaloyeros from his duties and has suspended him without pay, effective immediately”. Percoco’s lawyer and Kaloyeros weren’t initially available for comment.
