NEW YORK (TIP): Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the filing of a felony complaint charging two individuals for a scheme to rig the bidding process for three multimillion-dollar contracts. Alain Kaloyeros, 60, of Slingerlands, the President of #SUNY Polytechnic Institute, has been charged with three felony counts of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition. Joseph Nicolla, 59, of Schenectady, the president of Columbia Development, has been charged with one felony count of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition.

The felony complaint alleges that Kaloyeros steered, or agreed to steer, the awarding of contracts to handpicked companies, including Nicolla’s Columbia Development.

“The charges filed today outline a blatant and brazen abuse of taxpayer dollars and the public trust,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “This self-serving scheme alleged in the complaint was particularly egregious because it was aimed at enriching powerful people at the expense of the state’s public university system. We will continue to hold public officials accountable and ensure that all officials are held to the same high standard of integrity that New Yorkers deserve.”

Kaloyeros is scheduled to be arraigned in Albany City Court on Friday, September 23rd. Nicolla is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, September 26th.

If convicted on all charges, Kaloyeros faces a maximum sentence of 4 to 12 years in prison. If convicted on all charges, Mr. Nicolla faces a maximum sentence of 1.3 to 4 years in prison.

According to the felony complaint, Kaloyeros, a government official, engaged in an ongoing scheme to direct the contracts for government financed projects to favored companies, including Nicolla’s company, Columbia Development. Rather than use a fair and competitive process to award contracts, Kaloyeros allegedly improperly used the Request for Proposal process to award certain contracts for the construction of facilities for SUNY Poly.