Convicted Former Cuomo Aide Wins Supreme Court Case

Greg Stohr
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court tightened the limits on public-corruption prosecutions, giving a partial victory to a onetime top aide to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

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The justices unanimously said jury instructions in Joseph Percoco’s case were flawed given that he was working for Cuomo’s reelection campaign — and not the government — during a key eight-month period in 2014. Percoco was convicted of honest-services fraud along with other counts.

In an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, the court sent the case back to a federal appeals court, where Percoco can seek to invalidate his entire conviction.

The Supreme Court has narrowed the reach of federal corruption laws in recent years, tossing out the convictions of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell in 2016 and two allies of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal in 2020.

“This prosecution of Joe Percoco was an abuse of the federal fraud statutes,” Yaakov Roth, Percoco’s attorney in the case. “We are gratified that the court agreed with our position that he was not a public official during the relevant time period, and so he did not violate federal law by acting on behalf of private clients.”

In a second case decided Thursday, the court ruled in favor of Louis Ciminelli, saying a federal appeals court was wrong to uphold his conviction for wire fraud. Ciminelli’s Buffalo firm won a $750 million development contract after he took part in what prosecutors said was an effort to rig the bidding criteria.

Percoco was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for helping one company obtain a state power contract and another firm get a construction contract without having to first negotiate a labor peace agreement. A federal jury in Manhattan convicted him under a statute that bars schemes that deprive the public of “the intangible right of honest services.” He was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Percoco argued that his prosecution ignored a crucial distinction between government officials and private lobbyists. He contended that private citizens aren’t bound by any duty to act in the public interest.

The Biden administration defended Percoco’s conviction, arguing that he was functionally still serving in his role as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary, working out of his government offices and issuing instructions to the governor’s staff. Percoco formally returned to the job a month after Cuomo was reelected.

The case is Percoco v. United States, 21-1158.

(Adds background on case starting in fourth paragraph.)

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