Feds urge judge to make Percoco forfeit funds paid to wife
Ex-aide wants to keep part of the sum from companies that bought his influence
Federal prosecutors say Joe Percoco and his wife shouldn’t be able to hold on to a share of the money they took from a power company that received favors from the former top Cuomo aide.
Federal prosecutors late last week filed a request that U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni should compel the Percocos to forfeit the entire sum Lisa Toscano-percoco was paid by Competitive Power Ventures, which paid her roughly $287,000 through a Connecticut-based limited liability company.
The arrangement lasted for more than three years, and ended when Percoco left the Executive Chamber in January 2016 — nine months before he was charged with corruption by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.
In a letter to Caproni dated Friday, prosecutors asked her to impose a forfeiture order of $320,000, covering the payments from CPV as well as $35,000 from Syracuse-based COR Development that were funneled through Potomac Strategies LLC, which was controlled by consultant Todd Howe, and paid to Percoco’s wife. Howe — like Percoco a longtime confidant of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — pleaded guilty to multiple felonies in September 2016 and is also awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutors said they “were unable to reach agreement on the total forfeiture amount” with Percoco, who “asserts that the payments from CPV should be discounted by some amount of ‘direct costs incurred in providing the goods and services’” to the company, which is developing a controversial gas-fired power plant in Orange County.
At trial, prosecutors successfully depicted Toscano-percoco’s work on a CPV educational initiative as a “low-show” job that served as a pretext to conceal the illicit payments to Percoco, who at the time was serving as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary. Testimony showed that the arrangement alarmed executives within the company, and included criticism of Toscano-percoco’s level of effort.
Prosecutors state in a footnote they are not seeking forfeiture of approximately $1,596 of reimbursements Toscano-percoco received from CPV above and beyond the monthly payments of $7,500 paid by the company.
“The Government asserts there are no such ‘costs’ that should be deducted from the forfeitable amount of proceeds Percoco obtained in connection with his crimes because, as supported by the jury’s verdict at trial, Lisa Percoco’s job itself was provided as part of a quid pro quo agreement, and therefore all of her compensation from CPV is proceeds of the Cpv-related crimes of which Percoco was convicted,” the letter states.
The Percoco jury failed to reach a verdict on charges brought against former CPV executive Peter Galbraith Kelly, who orchestrated the payments to the Percocos. Kelly pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is awaiting sentencing.
Percoco, who served as Cuomo’s campaign manager for his 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial runs, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday. He was found guilty in March of honest services fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and solicitation of bribes and gratuities. He was acquitted of three other counts against him, including extortion.
Last week, Percoco submitted a letter to Caproni expressing “tremendous remorse for my actions and regret for the damage I have caused to others.” The letter did not address the question of how much of the CPV payments he and his wife should be able to retain.