Gotham Gazette

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Joe Percoco

Joe Percoco

  • 'This Moment Calls For Immediate Change': State Senate Takes Aim at New York's Ethics Watchdog

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    State Senator Alessandra Biaggi (center) (Photo: NY Senate)


    Looking over the scandal-pocked landscape of Albany in the wake of former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, lawmakers in the State Senate set their sights this week on the dysfunctional Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state’s ethics watchdog often criticized for its apparent lack of independence and bite.

    At a Senate ethics committee hearing Wednesday, senators on both sides of the aisle tore into JCOPE’s executive director, Judge Sanford Berland, over the rules and practices

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  • Democratic Attorney General Candidates Seek to Set Themselves Apart During First Televised Debate

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    Democratic AG candidates debate (photo: MNN)


    The four Democratic candidates for New York Attorney General met Tuesday for the first televised debate of their race, agreeing that the next chief legal officer of the state must continue to be a check on President Donald Trump, while also addressing corruption in state government and other areas of reform they would pursue in the role.

    Each of the four candidates -- New York City Public Advocate Letitia James; U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney; Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout; and Leecia Eve, a

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  • Alain Kaloyeros, Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion Star, Found Guilty on All Charges

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    Alain Kaloyeros (photo via The Governor's Office)


    Alain Kaloyeros, the former president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute who spearheaded key pieces of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s vaunted Buffalo Billion economic revitalization program, was found guilty in federal court on Thursday of bid-rigging state contracts in favor of upstate firms whose executives were major donors to the governor’s campaign.

    Following a trial that lasted just under a month, a jury found Kaloyeros guilty on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in

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  • Post-Percoco Conviction, Kaloyeros Trial Likely to Further Stain Cuomo Administration

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    Alain Kaloyeros (photo: The Governor's Office)


    Following the recent conviction of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s longtime aide Joseph Percoco on corruption charges – a humiliating blow for a governor who once campaigned on a promise to reform Albany – Cuomo quickly sought to shift attention from the executive to the legislative branch.

    A day after Percoco was convicted of fraud and soliciting bribes, Cuomo called for ethics reform – in the Assembly and Senate.

    “The single best ethics reform, which makes everything else moot, is no outside income in

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  • Joseph Percoco, Former Top Cuomo Aide, Convicted of Fraud, Soliciting Bribes

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    Joe Percoco behind his lawyer (photo: Samar Khurshid/Gotham Gazette)


    The jury in the federal corruption trial of Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, returned with a verdict on Tuesday, finding Percoco guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and one count of soliciting bribes, charges related to a pair of bribery and bid-rigging schemes involving firms seeking to do business with the state. Percoco was also found not guilty on three charges he was facing.

    Over the

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  • Adding to the Menu at the Coming Museum of Political Corruption in Albany

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    (image: Museum of Political Corruption)


    The New York State legislature is often cited as the most corrupt in the nation and Bruce Roter, founder and president of the board of trustees of Albany’s upcoming Museum of Political Corruption, wants to tell the story of how we got there and help the

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  • After Prosecutors' Final Rebuttal, Jury Deliberations Begin in Percoco Trial

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    Joseph Percoco, rear, his legal team, and others (photo: Samar Khurshid)


    Jury deliberations began Thursday in the federal corruption trial of Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, and three corporate executives who were allegedly involved in a criminal conspiracy to pay Percoco bribes in exchange for favorable official actions in their efforts to do business with the state government.

    In federal district court in lower Manhattan on Thursday morning, the prosecution offered its rebuttal to the defense’s closing arguments

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  • Defense Concludes Closing Arguments in Percoco Trial

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    Barry Bohrer and his client, Joseph Percoco, behind (photo: Samar Khurshid)


    Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, was not “one of the most powerful officials in state government,” argued Barry Bohrer, Percoco’s defense attorney, on Wednesday, the second day of closing arguments in the federal corruption trial of Percoco and three corporate executives, Joseph Gerardi, Steven Aiello, and Peter Galbraith Kelly.

    Percoco and the others face charges of bribery, fraud, and bid-rigging related to two separate schemes involving state contracts. The

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  • Prosecutors Make Closing Argument in Trial of Former Top Cuomo Aide

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    Governor Cuomo (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)


    The federal corruption trial of Joseph Percoco, a former top aide and close ally of Governor Andrew Cuomo, and three co-defendants reached near conclusion with prosecutors making closing arguments to the jury on Tuesday.

    Percoco and the three others, all corporate executives, face several bribery, bid-rigging and fraud charges related to state contracts sought by the companies represented by Percoco’s co-defendants. Percoco was charged with accepting bribes amounting to more than $300,000

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  • Federal Corruption Charges Confirm Systemic Flaws in State Economic Development System

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    Cuomo in Buffalo (photo via The Governor's Office on Flickr)


    After laying out multiple corruption and bribery charges against nine players involved with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature economic development program, including his former aide and close friend Joe Percoco, family friend and confidante Todd Howe, and a number of major developers and Cuomo donors, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara refused to say whether the governor is a target in the probe or if it is reasonable to hold him accountable for the conduct of the people he empowered.

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  • For Review, Cuomo Chooses Outside Agent Over Existing State Investigators

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    Scheiderman, left, & Cuomo, center (photo via The Governor's Office on Flickr)


    More than a month after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Bart Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor, would head an “independent investigation” into the Buffalo Billion economic development program, it remains unclear whether Schwartz has begun his

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  • IBM Hired Influential Lobbyist Months Before Securing Buffalo Billion Deal

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    IBM (photo: Patrick via Flickr)


    International Business Machines (IBM) has a long history in New York - its headquarters is located on the New York-Connecticut border in Armonk; it used to be one of the largest employers in the state; and it was part of a 2011 deal to bring $4.4 billion in investments to upstate New York through the creation of a high-tech computer chip manufacturing plant. The success of the company and the overall state economy have travelled similar paths, both

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  • Buffalo Billion Probe: Bad Apples or Broken System?

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    Gov. Cuomo in Buffalo (photo via The Governor's Office)


    As U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office issues a storm of subpoenas to the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo and his close associates in relation to the state’s Buffalo Billion economic development program, the governor and his aides have delivered a consistent message: the investigation targets the dealings of a few bad apples, the governor wasn’t aware of any wrongdoing and he wants to get to the bottom of the situation as quickly as possible.

    “I’ve said to all my people, and I’ve said to

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