NY development executives released on bond

Also allegedly caught up in the scheme, about which U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara will deliver more details at press conference on Thursday, was Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, the head of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, which helped administer numerous Buffalo Billion program’s contracts.

The complaint detailed two overlapping schemes involving the awarding of contracts and other state benefits.

According to state financial disclosures, Percoco 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 bribes to Percoco were alleged to have been arranged by Howe, who once worked for Cuomo’s father, the late Gov. Mario Cuomo.

The U.S. Attorney’s office was investigating whether Percoco received income from companies that were working with New York State.

Percoco was the former executive deputy secretary to the Democratic governor.

Alain Kaloyeros, president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, was also charged in the case.

Others charged include Peter Gailbraith Jr., Steven Aiello, Joseph Gerardi, Michael Laipple and Kevin Schuler.

Percoco’s attorney called the charges “an overreach of classic proportions”. (Toscana-Percoco allegedly benefited from said bribes, though she is not named as a defendant.) Additionally, the indictment states Kaloyeros, who has been noted posting photos of a 0,000 Ferrari on Facebook, abetted corruption and bribery in order to keep his position at the school, where he was paid upward of $1 million a year.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office confirmed Percoco’s arrest was imminent Thursday. Todd Howe, a former Washington lobbyist, has pleaded guilty on separate fraud charges, and is reportedly cooperating with investigators.

Percoco, a 1991 Wagner College graduate from Huguenot, had served as executive deputy secretary to the governor, and had been described by Albany observers as Cuomo’s “right-hand man”. As the leader of SUNY Polytechnic, Kaloyeros was instrumental to Cuomo’s efforts to bring high-tech jobs to upstate NY. Like my father before me, I believe public integrity is paramount.

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.

The criminal complaint alleges that Kaloyeros oversaw the applications for private developers, Ciminelli in Buffalo and COR Development in Syracuse, and worked with Howe in “secretly tailoring” contracts for the two companies. He also took in anywhere from $70,000 to $120,000 from a developer and another consulting firm, who both “increased their donations” to Cuomo’s campaign.

Cuomo, who once likened Percoco to a brother, first defended him during the widening corruption probe – but later threw him under the bus.