Three executives of Buffalo, N.Y., contractor LPCiminelli Inc., three New York state power and commercial project developers and the former president of the State University of New York-Albany’s Polytechnic Institute are among nine charged on Sept. 22 by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a 79-page federal criminal complaint related to bribery, bid- rigging, extortion and influence-peddling schemes on state-funded projects.
Also charged are two former top aides to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), Joseph Percoco and Todd R. Howe. Peter G. “Braith” Kelly, a former senior vice president of Competitive Power Ventures; Steven Aiello, president of COR Development, Syracuse, N.Y.; and that firm’s attorney, Joseph Gerardi, are charged with orchestrating the scheme to bribe Percoco. Kelly is charged with seeking influence to win a $100-million power purchase agreement with the state that would help the company to get financing to build the $900-million Valley gas-fired plant in Wawayanda, N.Y. Percoco and Howe, who is also a lobbyist, continued to extort money from Kelly even after it became clear that the state would not award the agreement to CPV, the complaint said.