Tag: Buffalo Billion

Nov 9

2016

Tainted contract nets LPCiminelli $20 million

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Federal prosecutors say top executives at LPCiminelli went to great lengths to ensure they would win the lucrative contract to build a factory for SolarCity at Riverbend. Just how lucrative? State officials refuse to say how much the company is being paid. But Investigative Post has calculated, based on interviews and public records, that LPCiminelli’s fee for the project works out to between $20 million and $22 million. That’s one of the largest developer fees paid out in the region in recent years, because of the sheer size of the project, according to construction industry sources. Three LPCiminelli executives, including[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Oct 11

2016

‘Billion mastermind Kaloyeros resigns

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The fall from grace is just about complete for Alain Kaloyeros. The so-called “nano-tech guru” who Gov. Andrew Cuomo has praised as a “near genius” has resigned as CEO of SUNY Polytechnic Institute. His success building a nano-technology sector in the Albany area prompted Cuomo to put Kaloyeros in charge of his initiative to revitalize the upstate economy through a series a big-ticket projects in Buffalo, Dunkirk, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. But reporting by Investigative Post into the awarding of a lucrative contract to LPCiminelli to build a factory for SolarCity triggered investigations by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and State Attorney General Eric[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 28

2016

Bharara: Support investigative journalism

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U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Tuesday acknowledged the role reporters played in bringing possible corruption in the Buffalo Billion program to his attention and underscored the importance of investigative reporting in cleaning up state government. Bharara told an audience attending an event sponsored by City & State New York that he launched his probe after the problems were first pointed out in the local press. “That case got started because journalists in Buffalo and elsewhere started to write that there were shenanigans they believe that were going on with the bidding of contracts in Buffalo,” Bharara said. “And you know what we[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 23

2016

Double talk from Cuomo on ‘Billion indictments

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo obviously believes the best defense is a good offense. The governor came to town Friday, fresh off the indictment of three of his close associates and two of his major campaign contributors and attempted to claim victory. He told a gathering at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery that Buffalo is booming and announced a second phase of the Buffalo Billion program is coming as soon as Howard Zemsky figures out what it should involve. In short, Cuomo tried to change the topic. Only after his remarks before a sympathetic audience at the art gallery did he address the[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 22

2016

An indictment of Cuomo’s MO

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I did a slew of interviews Thursday after news broke that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara indicted three Cuomo insiders and five development company officials on a variety of corruption charges. One question came up time and time again: “Was I surprised?” The answer, in a word, is “No.” I spelled out my reasoning in a blog post back in May. As I wrote then: The Cuomo crowd is obsessed with secrecy and operates with the mistaken notion that the rules don’t apply to them. The governor may or may not have knowledge of the supposed misdeeds of some of his[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 22

2016

More dubious Buffalo Billion dealings

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Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect new developments as of Sept. 22, 2016.  The close relationship between EYP Architecture and Engineering and (currently suspended) SUNY Polytechnic President Alain Kaloyeros was further described by state attorney general Eric Schneiderman in a complaint unsealed today. State investigators allege that EYP, referred to as “Architect-1” throughout the complaint, was described as SUNY Poly’s “in-house architect” by a former employee of Columbia development, whose president has been charged with collaborating with Kaloyeros to rig bids for a project to build SUNY Poly housing. The employee told investigators that EYP had been involved[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 22

2016

Investigative Post’s Buffalo Billion reporting

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Gov. Cuomo’s signature Buffalo Billion initiative was mired in corruption and bid-rigging, according to a federal complaint unsealed Thursday. The complaint alleges what has long been suspected: the RFP for Buffalo developers to build the $750 million factory for SolarCity was designed with one company, LPCiminelli, in mind. SUNY Polytechnic president Alain Kaloyeros, lobbyist Todd Howe, and executives at Buffalo-based LPCiminelli worked together to “secretly tailor” the required qualifications for a developer in Buffalo so that LPCiminelli would be guaranteed to win the work, according to the complaint. A similar pattern of collaboration is alleged to have taken place between Kaloyeros, Howe and[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Sep 19

2016

SUNY Poly plays by the rules — or, guidelines

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Editor’s note: A version of this story published Sunday in the Times Union of Albany. Two state-affiliated development corporations at the center of a federal corruption probe operated for years without rules commonly used by government agencies to promote competition, discourage favoritism and get the best deal for taxpayers when choosing companies to do business with. As a result, they’ve used unusually loose procurement policies to select developers for multimillion dollar projects, an Investigative Post analysis shows. Some of their contract awards – often to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s major campaign donors – are now being investigated by state and federal[...]

Posted 8 years ago
Investigative Post

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