The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave a big boost to two real estate developers and a former state university official convicted of fraud for rigging bids for one of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's signature projects, the latest reversal for the Justice Department in a major corruption inquiry.
The justices threw out lower court decisions upholding the 2018 convictions of Steven Aiello, Joseph Gerardi and Alain Kaloyeros, who were charged as part of a corruption crackdown by federal prosecutors in Manhattan centered on the state capital of Albany. The justices acted in light of their May 11 rulingThe court has limited prosecutors in a series of political corruption cases in recent years.
Percoco, a former Cuomo aide, had been found guilty of seeking $315,000 in bribes in connection with the initiative while managing the Democratic then-governor's 2014 re-election campaign. His defense lawyers argued that because Percoco was no longer serving in government at the time of the actions at issue, he could not be convicted of bribery.
The jury that convicted Percoco had been required "to determine whether he had a 'special relationship' with the government and had 'dominated and controlled' government business," conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's ruling in that case. "We conclude that this is not the proper test for determining whether a private person may be convicted of honest-services fraud.
Lawyers for Aiello, Gerardi and Kaloyeros - a former official at a state university who helped administer the bidding process - raised that point as well.
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