Buffalo businessman pleads guilty in upstate corruption case

A Buffalo businessman pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court in Manhattan on Friday and agreed to cooperate in an upcoming trial of five others for corruption in some of the Cuomo administration’s flagship upstate development projects.

Kevin Schuler, a former executive with LP Ciminelli construction company, told U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni he conspired to rig bids and “tailored” the request-for-proposals process to ensure his firm won contracts for the so-called “Buffalo Billion” economic development effort.

Prosecutors have accused former SUNY Polytechnic head Alan Kaloyeros, former lobbyist Todd Howe, former Ciminelli construction magnate Louis Ciminelli and aide Michael Laipple and two Syracuse developers with participating in schemes to rig contracts.

Howe pleaded guilty and is expected to be a key government witness at trial. But his credibility was damaged earlier this year in a related corruption trial of former top Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide Joe Percoco, and he is now in jail. Schuler’s plea deal will give prosecutors another cooperator to rely on.

The trial, expected to last four to six weeks, is scheduled to begin on June 11.