SUNY Poly chief faces state charges in addition to federal ones

ALBANY — In addition to facing federal charges, a State University of New York college president also was indicted Thursday on three state charges, alleging that he steered contracts to campaign donors of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and solicited grants and loans that padded his own pocket.

Alain Kaloyeros, who was paid more than $1 million in compensation through SUNY Polytechnic and the SUNY Research Foundation, was charged with three felonies for essentially rigging bids, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday, a few hours after the federal charges were announced against Kaloyeros and eight others.

Schneiderman alleged Kaloyeros, 60, steered a SUNY Poly dorm project in Albany to Joseph Nicolla, head of Columbia Development, a well-known Albany builder. Among other things, Kaloyeros sent a competitor’s bid to Nicolla so he could use it to write a winning bid, the attorney general said.

In a separate scheme, Kaloyeros allegedly awarded another lucrative building contract to an unnamed builder — while leaning on the builder to give a $50 million loan to a non-profit organization Kaloyeros owned and provide a $3 million grant to SUNY Polytechnic. The grant personally benefited the college president because his annual compensation is based in part on the amount of research grants he collected, Schneiderman alleged.

Kaloyeros is slated to appear in Albany City Court on Friday to answer the charges, according to the attorney general, whose investigation was connected to the federal probe.

SUNY officials announced that Kaloyeros was suspended immediately without pay.