mountain of corruption." Cuomo's top aide, Joe Percoco, was convicted in March 2018 of bribery and wire fraud. In July 2018, four men were convicted of rigging bids for state contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including Buffalo Billion: Alain Kaloyeros, former SUNY Polytechnic Institute head; Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, executives at Syracuse-based COR Development Co.; and Louis Ciminelli, the CEO of LPCiminelli Inc. Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr., the son of high-profile Connecticut-based lobbyist Peter G. Kelly was sentenced to 14 months in prison in October 2018 after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud when he oversaw the development of the Oxford Power Plant. Federal investigation The federal government investigated the distribution of Buffalo Billion project money and contracts. The office of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, headed the investigation. Federal prosecutors filed charges in September 2016. In November 2016, a federal grand jury indicted Cuomo's former aide Joseph Percoco and the former president of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Alain Kaloyeros, for bribery and bid rigging, alongside six government contractors. Percoco was accused of taking at least $315,000 in bribes. In March 2018, a federal jury in Manhattan convicted Percoco on felony charges of honest services fraud and soliciting bribes from Competitive Power Ventures, an energy company, and COR Development, a real estate developer. Cuomo's former aide Todd Howe had already pleaded guilty to eight corruption charges relating to COR Development and LPCiminelli. A handful of people connected closely to each other have dominated the process of planning, building and promoting the majority of Buffalo Billion's projects. Some include developers who have contributed to Cuomo's campaign. The New York Times wrote on May 24, 2016:…federal investigators' interest seems to lie less with whether the people of Buffalo will ultimately benefit than with those who already have: a tangle of well-connected players — including developers and frequent donors to the governor — who have feasted on Buffalo Billion money. LPCiminelli In November 2013, the CEO of LPCiminelli, Louis P. Ciminelli, hosted a fundraiser for Cuomo three weeks before submitting his company's bid to the Buffalo Billion program. According to the New York Times:… the state's request for proposals was worded in a way that appeared to exclude all bidders except the eventual winner, LPCiminelli. State officials later said that was the result of a "typographical error."