3 yrs. for ‘genius’

Crooked gov aide ‘Dr. Nano’ going to big house

The man Gov. Cuomo once called “the closest thing to a genius I’ve ever worked with” is going to prison for 3½ years.

The former head of SUNY Poly, Alain Kaloyeros, was slapped with the sentence Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court for rigging bids tied to Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion project.

“Dr. Kaloyeros’ willingness to lie and cheat tainted the Buffalo Billion with fraud and cynicism,” Judge Valerie Caproni said, also imposing a $100,000 fine.

“He let his desire to earn brownie points in the executive chamber overcome the normal, well-thought out processes that treated all developers fairly, whether they were giving money to Cuomo campaign coffers or not.”

Kaloyeros, 62, was Cuomo’s handpicked economic guru. An accomplished physicist, Kaloyeros (inset) was tasked with turning SUNY Polytechnic Institute into an upstate job creator.

He established Albany as a destination for students and researchers studying nanotechnology. Cuomo tasked him with applying that model to Western New York.

“Dr. Nano” was the state’s highest-paid employee, earning $800,000 per year.

He broke the law to maintain his vaunted status in the Cuomo administration between 2013 and 2015, Caproni said. Kaloyeros was convicted at trial of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy for rigging bids for developers worth a total of $850 million.

The companies — the Buffalo-based LPCiminelli and Syracusebased Cor — were generous donors to Cuomo. He carried out the scheme with the notorious Albany lobbyist Todd Howe, who pleaded guilty to eight felonies and cooperated with prosecutors.

Cuomo was not accused of any wrongdoing.

“I feel enormous responsibility for the loss I have caused others,” Kaloyeros said, wiping away a few tears.

“I have let down the amazing faculty and students at SUNY Poly ... I’m sorry I have dimmed the light of their good work.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said Kaloyeros’ sentencing was the “most tragic” of the case that also resulted in the convictions at trial of three developers and Cuomo’s former executive deputy secretary, Joseph Percoco.

Kaloyeros had made “real contributions” in nano research and to Albany, the prosecutor said. The conviction was a stain on the legacy of a Lebanon-born scientist who survived civil war and then pursued an academic career in the U.S.

“Even after decades of work as an academic and leader in Albany … He was willing to put that at risk to serve himself,” Podolsky said.