The head of SUNY’s Polytechnic Institute isn’t just facing federal charges…he’s also been charged by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman this afternoon with violating state bid-rigging laws.
Scheiderman says Alain Kaloyeros and Joseph Nicolla of Columbia Development are facing charges from parallel but independent investigation that began a year ago. Kaloyeros is charged with three counts of restraint of trade, and Nicolla with one.
Schneiderman says Kaloyeros blatantly leaked insider information to Nicolla and then wrote the RFPs for three major construction projects so that only Columbia Development could possibly meet them. In return, the developer kicked back a multi-million dollar “donation” to SUNY.
Kaloyeros has a compensation package that depends partly on how much he generates in donations…so the transactions benefited him personally. He’s been suspended without pay while the State University System reviews the charges.