Federal prosecutor said to be investigating Buffalo Billion contracts

The Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reported that SUNY Polytechnic Institute has received subpoenas over the past several months for documents in connection with the investigation.

“As a former attorney general, you can have investigations – that doesn’t mean there is any “there” there or anyone did anything wrong”, Cuomo, who was the state attorney general for a term before he was elected governor in 2010, said.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has been investigating corruption in Albany, has started to inquire about the bidding practices into the Buffalo Billion initiative, according to sources and media reports.

The Buffalo developer selected for the Solar City project was LP Ciminelli, whose president, Louis Ciminelli, has donated $96,000 to Cuomo’s election campaigns since 2010, according to state election records.

Eyebrows were raised recently when Kaloyeros did not attend a Utica press conference with Cuomo to announce that SUNY Polytechnic Institute and GE Global Research were partnering to develop a power electronics facility that would create 1,470 jobs.

A call to Kaloyeros wasn’t returned Friday.

The requests for proposals for the Buffalo Billion contracts were officially handled by SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s predecessor, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Attorney’s Southern District office in Manhattan.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a luncheon honoring motorcycle riders participating in the 9/11 Memorial Motorcycle Ride in New York on Friday, September 11, 2015.

SUNY Poly, headed by CEO Alain Kaloyeros, is the lead agency for a $600 million photonics center in Rochester. “We are confident that all processes regarding SUNY Poly projects in Buffalo were done appropriately”.

“I have no idea”, said Cuomo who said no one from his office has been subpoenaed.

The school, in conjunction with Fort Schuyler Management Corp., in early 2014 selected the two companies to collaborate on the anticipated development of high-tech facilities in the Buffalo area.

This is not Bharara’s first time turning the heat up on Governor Cuomo, or his political allies.

The RFPs were later changed to only require 15 years experience. Cox said. “That does not make sense for economic development”.