CUO-LUMBUS!
Ferraris, food & gov top ‘bid-rig’ buds’ list of Italian faves
Two men accused of rigging bids in Gov. Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion economic-development program once quipped that the governor was one of the greatest things to come out of Italy — along with Ferraris, food and gorgeous gals.
A day after their first meeting in May 2013, Alain Kaloyeros — then-head of SUNY Polytechnic Institute — and construction CEO Louis Ciminelli were bonding over their love of sports cars in an e-mail exchange when they decided to poke fun at the governor, documents introduced at trial Wednesday showed.
“Say what you will about Italy, but it is the best at making two things,” Kaloyeros wrote.
“Si certo,” Ciminelli responded, Italian for ‘yes, sure,’ and then listed “Ferraris, food and beautiful women.”
“Hahahaha ... 4 things then,” Kaloyeros responded before adding: “And NY state leaders by the name of Cuomo,” followed by a smiley face.
“Lest I forget — he would remind me,” Ciminelli answered, followed by the letter “j” to signify he was also joking.
The e-mail, which Ciminelli signed, “fellow Ferrari addict,” was shown to the jury with redactions amid complaints by the defense that references to Ferraris would prejudice the jury against the wealthy defendants.
Kaloyeros earned more than $800,000 a year as the head of SUNY Polytechnic and was notorious for driving a Ferrari with the license plate “Dr. Nano” around the Albany campus.
He and Ciminelli are on trial in Manhattan federal court, along with two executives of construction company Cor Development, for allegedly rigging bids for hundreds of millions worth of construction contracts funded by Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program to revitalize the state’s western tier.
Cuomo tapped Kaloyeros as his “economic guru” in the project because the scientist had a proven track record of attracting tech investors to Albany.
But instead of choosing the best companies for the best price, Kaloyeros steered the lucrative state contracts to companies that had contributed to Cuomo’s reelection, the feds have charged.
The e-mails introduced Wednesday showed that corrupt lobbyist and former Cuomo associate Todd Howe arranged for Kaloyeros to meet Ciminelli — whom Howe described as “the Buffalo developer per our discussion about AC and his connection to AC.”