He was driven to excel — driven to crime, prosecutors allege.
Alain Kaloyeros, the ex-president of Albany’s SUNY Polytechnic Institute, helped two developers rig bids for government contracts in part because he had ambitions to become the head of the all of the campuses run by the State University of New York, prosecutors claimed on Wednesday.
“Dr. Kaloyeros was very motivated to become president of SUNY University,” which required him to kiss up to Gov. Cuomo, who appoints the SUNY board, prosecutor David Zhou told a Manhattan federal judge.
One of the ways Kaloyeros cozied up to Cuomo was by helping developers LPCiminelli and Cor Development rig bids for state contracts because “those companies were .. contributors to the governor,” Zhou alleged.
Zhou made the remarks at a hearing over Kaloyeros’ June 18 Manhattan federal court bid-rigging trial, which he will face along with Louis Ciminelli of LPCiminelli and Cor Development executives Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi.
Zhou said the feds plan to bring in two witnesses to shed light on Kaloyeros’ efforts to woo Cuomo after he realized they were on “rocky” terms when Cuomo first took over the governor’s mansion in 2011.
Judge Valerie Caproni, meanwhile, ruled that Kaloyeros’ roughly $800,00 salary as the head of SUNY Polytechnic, which makes him the state’s highest paid employee, will not be admitted at trial.
Prosecutors also agreed to not introduce evidence of Kaloyeros’ “lifestyle,” including photos of a Ferrari with the license plate “Dr. Nano,” referring to his work as a nanotechnology scientist.
The judge also battled with defense lawyers over their request to impeach the credibility of lobbyist Todd Howe — despite the fact that he is no longer going to be a witness at trial.
“As sure as the sun rises in the East, Mr. Howe’s credibility will be an issue,” lawyer Reid Weingarten said of Howe, who was tossed in prison in the middle of his testimony in a related case after he admitted to defrauding a hotel while cooperating with the feds.
“Look, all of your clients got in bed with him — that’s all I’m saying,” Caproni said, prompting heated objections from the defense.
“I’ve really got to disagree with that statement ‘we got in bed with him,’” lawyer Stephen Coffey said. “It implies we knew from the very beginning we were sleeping with a snake.”
