ALBANY, N.Y.—A federal investigation of two former top aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening to taint the Democratic leader’s signature economic development efforts and add to Albany’s reputation for insider dealing.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation was revealed last month when Cuomo’s office confirmed the federal prosecutor was examining possible undisclosed conflicts of interest and improper bidding related to the Buffalo Billion initiative and Nano, the governor’s effort to attract high-tech nanotechnology jobs.
In response, Cuomo announced hiring Bart Schwartz, formerly head of the U.S. attorney’s criminal division in Manhattan, to lead an internal investigation and report any findings to Bharara’s office.
A third investigation came to light when the Albany Times-Union reported that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is investigating possible bid-rigging for a dormitory project on the campus of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany.
“I don’t want to comment on ongoing investigations but we’re in the middle of it, and I don’t want to prejudge it,” Schneiderman told reporters.
Attorney Richard Strassberg, representing SUNY Poly, told the newspaper the school and its affiliates have cooperated fully with the investigation that began last September and have seen no evidence of any impropriety.
The Players
Todd Howe’s ties to the Cuomo family stretch back decades. He was an aide to Mario Cuomo and later a deputy chief of staff to Andrew Cuomo when the latter led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He later went to work as a lobbyist for a firm whose clients included COR, developer LPCiminelli, energy company CPV Valley and SUNY Polytechnic.
Howe has a troubled financial history, first detailed by The New York Times, including a 2003 bankruptcy, nearly $400,000 in federal tax liens and judgments and a guilty plea to a felony theft charge after he was accused of making a false bank deposit of $45,000.
“I wouldn’t call us close friends,” Cuomo said of Howe. “But he worked for the state for a number of years. But I had no knowledge of his personal situation.”
