‘That’s Not How It Works’: Justices Jackson, Gorsuch and Sotomayor Grill Government Attorney Arguing in Favor of Broad Wire Fraud Theory – By Colin Kalmbacher (Law and Crime) / Nov 28, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday expressed severe skepticism about the government’s broad theory of wire fraud in a hugely important case about bid-rigging public contracts in New York State.
Stylized as Ciminelli v. United States, the underlying facts about the construction project are fairly straightforward.
In 2012, Andrew Ciminelli, the owner of a Buffalo-based construction company, worked with cronies of then-Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) to finesse the allocation process of a $750 million contract so that the requirements favored his firm. Unusually, the “Buffalo Billion” process made it so that firms initially bid indirectly by way of submitting their overall company – specifically the details of how they operate – instead of a proposal for the actual Fort Schuyler project itself.
After working with insiders to develop those criteria, Ciminelli’s firm was successfully identified as a “strategic development partner,” which gave them first-in-line status to negotiate the eventual contract. Crucially, however, such status as a partner did not guarantee a winning bid or that they would be able to successfully negotiate the project. But, in the end, Ciminelli’s firm was able to convince the relevant state board that his firm was the way to go.
