More Cuomo Corruption News

Bill Mahoney at Capital NY:

Glenwood Management, the real estate developer at the center of two former legislative leaders' federal corruption trials, gave half a million dollars in 2011 to an advocacy group that focused solely on supporting Gov. Andrew Cuomo's agenda.

Evidence federal prosecutors released Sunday in the trial of Sen. Dean Skelos itemizes the contributions that various Glenwood holdings made over the past decade.

...

On Oct. 24, 2011, a total of 10 different Glenwood holdings each made out a $50,000 check to the group, according to the federal evidence. The next day, one of them wrote a separate $50,000 check destined for Cuomo’s campaign committee.

On the same day that the holdings of Glenwood — whose principal owner Leonard Litwin was identified by Forbes in 2007 as the world’s 891st richest individual — made the donations, Occupy Wall Street protesters focused on assailing Cuomo for being too close to the “1 percent.”

Glenwood and Litwin gave Cuomo’s committee $1 million during the last election cycle, more than any other donor. They also gave his 2014 running mate, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, $19,700 and the New York State Democratic Committee $450,000.

The $500,000 given to the Committee to Save New York thus brings the total from the developer that went to support the governor during his first term to $1.97 million — about 32 times the campaign contribution limit imposed on donations from most individuals.

Other donors to the Committee To Save NY, the Cuomo PAC (that's what it was whether Cuomo wants to admit it or not since it ONLY did work for him), included a casino developer and other gambling interests that gave CSNY $2 million just as Cuomo was deciding on whether to legalize casino gambling in the state.

Funny how that worked - give money to Cuomo PAC that Cuomo says isn't his PAC but functions as an ancillary to his campaign, then get favorable policy (i.e., legalized casino gambling) in return.

Sheriff Andy said he rode into Albany to clean the corruption cesspool up but the more you learn about the doings up in the state capital, the more you realize Sheriff Andy's up to his neck in the cesspool too.

Dunno how far the feds are digging into Cuomo and his donors either as part of the Silver and Skelos corruption trials (and Mahoney points out Glenwood is at the center of both) or as part of the Buffalo Billion investigation.

But it seems to me if the feds get a conviction on Silver in a case where no specific quid pro quo has been shown (though that is no done deal, as can be seen here), there's some smoke around Cuomo and his donors too.

Andrew Cuomo Makes Shelly Silver's Witness List

John Riley in Newsday:

Defense lawyers for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have listed a virtual who's who of Albany politics, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, as potential witnesses or subjects of testimony at Silver's upcoming federal corruption trial.

Also included on a list of 62 names to ask prospective jurors if they knew are indicted Sen. Dean Skelos, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, lobbyists Pat Lynch and Brian Meara, and high-profile real estate figures such as Larry Silverstein, Leonard Litwin, Steve Spinola and Jack Rudin.

Silver is due to go to trial next month on charges that he did legislative favors for developers and a doctor to generate $4 million in referral fees from two law firms he was affiliated with.

...

The defense list, however, provided a taste of how deeply testimony at the trial is likely to delve into some of the inner workings of the Capitol and its power structure.

In addition to big-name lobbyists and real estate moguls, it included current and former Assembly members, suchas Vito Lopez of Brooklyn, Herman "Denny" Farrell and Keith Wright of Manhattan, and Audrey Pheffer of Queens.

Chris Bragg at the Times Union has been sleuthing out the names - you can see a partial list below.

Jonathan Taub: Robert Taub’s son, whom Silver allegedly helped find a job at a Brooklyn social services group.

Arthur Luxenberg: Partner at Weitz & Luxenberg, where Silver served as “of counsel.”

Perry Weitz: Partner at Weitz & Luxenberg.

“Lenny Litwin”: Head of Glenwood Management, which allegedly hired a small law firm, Goldberg & Iryami, from which Silver then got fees. The first time we’ve seen his name rendered as “Lenny.”

Brian Meara: Top Albany lobbyist close to Silver who is said to have cooperated with federal authorities.

Charlie Dorego: Top Glenwood Management official, cooperating witness in case against ex-Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Silver.

Dean Fuleihan: New York City budget director, former longtime top aide to Silver.

Dean Skelos: Long Island senator, federally indicted Republican former Senate Majority Leader.

Herman (Denny) Farrell: Manhattan assemblyman and chariman of the Ways & Means Committee.

Jack Rudin: may be the chairman Rudin Management Company, a major New York City developer.

Jonathan Lippman: Chief Judge of New York Court of Appeals, childhood friend of Silver. Retiring from bench at end of the year.

Joseph Strasberg: president, Rent Stabilization Association.

Judy Rapfogel: longtime top Silver aide, wife of William Rapfogel.

Keith Wright: Manhattan Assemblyman, chair of housing committee, candidate for Congress.

Larry Silverstein: Owner of major development firm Silverstein Properties.

Solly Assa: A person of this name is a New York City real estate developer.

Steven Spinola: The recently retired president of the Real Estate Board of New York.

Victor Franco: A person of this name has been deputy Budget Director for the Assembly.

Vito Lopez: Formerly powerful Brooklyn assemblyman. Silver faced criticism for a secret settlement regarding sexual harassment claims against Lopez.

Rubin (Ruby) Schron: New York City real estate investor and landlord.

Pat Lynch: Top Albany lobbyist known to be close to Silver.

A commenter at Newsday writes the following:

Any testimony by Jonathan Lippman could get nuclear as it would expose the Cuomo-Silver-Schwartz scammery in open court. It also could show Bharara knows the deal about how Cuomo was operating until just very recently.
 
I wonder what the average Joe is going to think of Albany democrat progressives now when they see who turned the entire state of NY into Detroit and why. I also wonder what the average scuz NY politician will think when they realize the new technology brought to bear on the Three Men in a Room and how clearly it shows the connections.
 
Expect sunlight.

We'll see if we indeed get sunlight.

Make no mistake, given the names on the list, it looks like Silver plans to put the whole system on trial, to say, "Hey, if I'm guilty of crimes, so is the whole system and everybody in it."

Should be fun if Shelly actually goes to trial.

Update On The Cuomo Buffalo Billion Corruption Story

Yesterday was quite a day, with leaks coming throughout that US Attorney Preet Bharara was expanding his corruption probe of Albany politics to Governor Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Program and various entities and individuals connected to it.

First the NY Post reported that Bharara had launched an investigation into Cuomo's Buffalo Billion project, looking at the bidding process and the awarding of contracts.

Then the NY Daily News reported that SUNY Polytechnic Institute had been the recipient of subpoenas relating to the Buffalo Billion Project and had hired a criminal defense attorney to deal with the matter.

Last night the Buffalo News reported that the same contractor/Cuomo donor, Louis Ciminelli, who seemed to be the recipient of a rigged contract in the Buffalo Billion project, is also the contractor for the Buffalo Schools Construction Project, a $1.3 billion dollar renovation program that has tens of millions of funds missing.

Documents related to the Buffalo Schools Construction Project have also been subpoenaed by the US attorney's office.

The NY Times reports this morning that Cuomo appoints the majority of SUNY board members and is known for his "hands-on" management style when it comes to governance, especially around large-scale programs like the Buffalo Billion project.

Indeed, even as the leaks kept coming throughout the day about the Bharara probe into Cuomo's Buffalo Billion project, Cuomo was touting it before business leaders at a business conference in Lake George:

Governor Cuomo, in an address before the state’s business leaders,  promoted his economic development plans, including the Buffalo Billion initiative, and fended off questions on reports that some of the projects are under investigation by US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Cuomo, who was well received by business leaders meeting at the Sagamore resort on Lake George, gave a power point presentation focusing on his successes in building up the upstate economy, including the Buffalo Billion project, which has received praise and credit for helping turn around the state’s second largest city.

“Buffalo was the most pessimistic community about their economic future five years ago,” said Cuomo. “Today, Buffalo is the most optimistic, tied with Manhattan.”

Last night, WGRZ led their coverage of the Buffalo Billion investigation story with the headline "Is Governor Cuomo Under Investigation?" and gave a great round-up of the day's events, including analysis from Investigative Post's Jim Heaney, who may have kicked off the whole federal investigation with his reporting on the lack of transparency around the Buffalo Billion project bidding and contract award process.

Heaney says the investigation may center on Governor Cuomo's go-to economic development guy, SUNY Poly CEO Alain Kaloyeros, who has led the development of the nanotech industry in Albany as well as the spread of high-tech initiatives to Buffalo, Utica, Rochester and Syracuse.

Heaney was updating Investigative Post throughout the day as more leaks and reports came in - you can see those updates here.

Yesterday was a pretty extraordinary day in New York State.

What we learned yesterday is that a US attorney from Manhattan is rooting around in business dealings and contracts in Buffalo even as it's unknown whether the US attorney for Western New York - Bill Hochul - has recused himself from the investigation or just been passed over by Bharara's office because Hochul is the husband of Governor Cuomo's Lieutenant Governor, Kathy Hochul.

This appears to be part of a larger investigation into state contracts and business dealings with at least part of the focus on one of the state's highest paid employees, SUNY Polytech CEO Alain Kaloyeros, who also happens to have close ties to Governor Cuomo and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

At least one Cuomo donor, Louis Ciminelli, has received subpoenas from the US attorney's office related to the Buffalo Billion project and what appears to be a rigged contract award as well as the Buffalo Schools Construction Project and what is said to be tens of millions of missing funds.

At the center of the Buffalo Billion project is a solar panel company chaired by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors - SolarCity.

The state is putting $750 million into the building of a manufacturing plant for SolarCity in Buffalo - but Jim Heaney reports that SolarCity lost $375 million last year and has lost over $300 million in the first half of this year.

Heaney also reports that SolarCity is the target of a federal investigation related to federal stimulus funds.

Something smells wrong about the state investing $750 million in a development project for a company that has lost over $675 million in the last year and a half alone, and yet that's what's happening here.

No wonder Governor Cuomo's administration did everything it could to quash FOIL requests for documents related to the project.

Unlike the reports that Preet Bharara was investigating Governor Cuomo's actions regarding the shutdown of the Moreland Commission, which were a little hazy with detail, the reports around the investigation of the Buffalo Billion are detailed, including who has received subpoenas in the case and who has lawyered up.

The pattern with Bharara and these corruption investigations has been leak, indictment, leak, indictment...

That's what happened in the Shelly Silver case and the Dean Skelos case.

These leaks yesterday - at least three separate ones to three different news organizations if I'm counting correctly - suggest Bharara intends to continue the pattern.

Governor Cuomo downplayed the stories yesterday, saying there's no "there" there in this story.

But he's fooling himself if he really believes that.

At the very least, the feds have one of his donors on the other end of a subpoena and one of the state's highest paid employees, the PolyTech CEO, who is leading Cuomo's development efforts for high tech industries in Buffalo, Rochester, Utica and Syracuse is the focus of, if not the target of, a criminal investigation.

Given the previous pattern with Bharara and leaks, you can be sure criminal charges will come and somebody will make a plea deal here to turn evidence over to the feds.

That's what happened in the Silver case and in the Skelos case - and I would bet that's what happens here too.

Will Cuomo's donor, Louis Ciminelli, get the squeeze and turn on Kaloyeros?

Will Kaloyeros get the squeeze and turn on someone else?

I'm speculating here, but given how Bharara worked in both the Silver case (where he got REBNY bagman Charlie Dorego to cooperate) and the Skelos case (where he got Cuomo donor and former NYRA chair Anthony Bonomo to cooperate along with using evidence from Dorego against Skelos and son), this is not idle speculation.

Cuomo's got serious problems here, whether the criminal investigation reaches him or not.

He has made the Buffalo Billion the centerpiece of his upstate economic agenda, spreading it to Rochester, Utica, and Syracuse, and now it appears that centerpiece is rotten to the core.

That's a political problem for sure.

Whats worse for Cuomo is, if Bharara's rooting around in this mess, what else is he rooting around in?

Just last week, Gotham Gazette reported that Cuomo had his mojo back, that he was strutting his stuff again after dispatching NYC mayor Bill de Blasio in a feud.

De Blasio was an easy opponent for Cuomo to beat - Preet Bharara, on the other hand, does not look like he will be so easy for Cuomo to dispatch.

Cuomo Siding With Senate Republicans Against NYC Tenants

Jimmy Vielkind at Capital NY:

ALBANY—With the legislative session now in overtime and lawmakers still at stalemate, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been at the Capitol, out of the public eye and out of the fray, present but unaccounted for.

...

The governor's absence has fueled suspicion among Democrats that Cuomo, the de facto head of their party, is siding more closely with Republicans in the State Senate as lawmakers negotiate the renewal of rent regulations in New York City.

“I think he's schooling us. I think he really, fundamentally sides with the landlords,” said Mike McKee, the longtime treasurer of Tenants PAC, an advocacy group. “From what I hear—and this is all second-hand, because we're not in the room—he's been laughable in terms of tenant protection.”

Gee, who'd a thunk "Governor Glenwood" would be looking to screw NYC tenants for his landlord donors behind the scenes?

You can pay Cuomo back for his betrayal, NYC residents, by doing this.

Teachout: Cuomo's A Puppet For Glenwood Management

Casey Seiler at Capitol Confidential:

Zephyr Teachout, the Fordham Law professor and author who challenged Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the 2014 Democratic nomination, appeared at the Capitol at a Wednesday midday rally by New York City tenants-rights advocates calling for stronger rent regulations.

The rhetoric was almost as harsh for Cuomo as it was for landlords: Numerous signs assailed him as “Governor Glenwood” — a reference to the support he has received from the various organs of Glenwood Management, the real estate giant caught up in the federal corruption cases that prompted the downfalls of Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver.

...

“Andrew Cuomo right now likes to think of himself as a strong man,” said Teachout, who might not have seen Cuomo’s recent poll numbers. “But he’s acting like a puppet for Glenwood Management.”

Cuomo's clearly hurting on the rent regulation issue - that's why he's going to hold a "rally" tomorrow on the issue:

Governor Andrew Cuomo is planning a rally Thursday in support of tougher rent regulations, Capital has learned, even as tenant groups question his commitment to the issue.

Cuomo aides on Wednesday were reaching out to officials and groups about participating in the event, which will be held in central Harlem in the early afternoon, according to an invitation obtained by Capital. It comes 11 days before rent regulations are set to expire, and two weeks before state lawmakers are set to adjourn for the year.

...

 dozens of activists, including several sitting state lawmakers, were arrested at the Capitol during a protest that blocked the doors to Cuomo's office. Ava Farkas, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, called Cuomo's planned rally “a load of nonsense.”

“While real estate-driven corruption scandals swirl … Cuomo sits on Albany’s biggest pile of real estate cash and holds a bogus rally in support of corrupt rent laws,” she said. “No wonder his job approval ratings are going down as fast as working families' rents are going up.”

A Cuomo spokesman declined to comment.

He fools few with his jive these days

More and more, that's clear.

Anyone for a Cuomo mash-up of the Dan Penn song "I'm Your Puppet"?

Fred LeBrun: Is Preet Bharara Saving The Best For Last?

Fred LeBrun in the Times-Union:

The timing of the Skelos charges by the feds is interesting. We in the media heard months ago, even before a New York City television station went public with it, that the feds were investigating Skelos and his son.

Every politically connected individual on Long Island had to know it was happening, which means Skelos had to know, and so did Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Logically, then, all the while the governor's so-called ethics package was being batted about in the Legislature, the principals knew that at some point most probably the hammer would fall and make them all look foolish — again.

Perhaps that explains why the governor didn't do much of a victory dance over what half-baked ethics changes he did get passed, except to once again overstate their significance.

Of course, there may be another reason for Cuomo to button his lip. Conspicuously unresolved in the minds of many is whether the same federal prosecutor who has taken down both Silver and Skelos from on high is saving the best for last. We know of Bharara's displeasure with the way the governor's Moreland Commission looking into corruption was hastily disbanded.

With Skelos going down, the cheese stands alone.

Cuomo stands alone, but as I pointed out yesterday, there's plenty for the feds to investigate:

The Glenwood connections (which Cuomo either misremembered or lied about in a public statement last week.)

The bankster/bond deals.

The News Corp book deal.

The Sony connection. 

The Hollywood connection.

The investigations into Cuomo donors Cuomo's office sought to curtail during the Moreland Commission.

The fishiness of the deal he made with Silver/Skelos to shut down Moreland in return for a lukewarm ethics package that changed little in Albany.

The Moreland Commission tampering, including whether Cuomo or anyone from Cuomo's office directed commissioners to not refer criminal cases to the DA.

The post-commission tampering, including the drafting of statements by Cuomo's office for former Moreland Commissioners to issue in favor of Cuomo's handling of the commission.

That's a pretty extensive list of corruption charges.

Cuomo may stand alone, but he had better not get to cocky about it.

Cuomo helped, in part, take down a governor when he was attorney general and used that as a stepping stone to his current office.

You can bet that the current US Attorney for the Southern District, an ambitious man with a penchant for publicity who made his bones with Cuomo-enemy Chuck Schumer, wouldn't mind making a similar a career move for himself.

Let's List The Quid Pro Cuomo Deals (UPDATED - 12:05 PM)

Let's see, how many examples of Quid Pro Cuomo deals do we have in the public record?

The IBTimes reported Cuomo took $132,000 in campaign donations from JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup and gave them $3 billion in bond business in return.

The IBTimes reported Cuomo received at least $700,000 in compensation from News Corporation for his memoir, All Things Possible, "after Cuomo’s administration backed a series of state initiatives that benefited the media giant."

All Things Possible has sold slightly more than 3,000 copies.

Hacked Sony emails showed "Cuomo’s campaign pressing Sony to deliver $50,000 worth of donations before a July 15, 2014 campaign filing deadline as he ramped up his re-election campaign last summer."

Film industry executives have donated $900,000 to Cuomo since 2011 while the film industry receives $421 million a year in tax breaks from New York State.

Cuomo's quid pro quo relationship with the real estate industry was revealed last summer in the NY Times' Moreland Commission expose:

The Real Estate Board of New York’s power and influence over state government is, as a well-known Democratic operative put it, “about as new as hieroglyphics.” Albany politicians often transition into lucrative real estate careers, and Governor Andrew Cuomo is a tuxedo-clad fixture at REBNY’s annual gala. But an investigative story in the New York Times yesterday laid out the extent of the industry’s influence with Cuomo in the most explicit manner yet. The industry’s initial response to the story, however, suggests that it is unlikely to impact how REBNY does business.

The Times’ three-month investigation chronicles the tempestuous saga of the short-lived Moreland Commission, which was formed by Cuomo last July to crack down on public corruption. It details how Cuomo sought to block a subpoena that the commission intended to send to REBNY in order to investigate, among other things, the organization’s political donations, its materials related to the controversial 421-a abatement used by New York developers including Extell Development and Silverstein Properties, and its communications with public officials.

In the newspaper’s story, REBNY president Steven Spinola seems to make a direct connection between the financial support and the industry-favorable policy to which it gives rise.

In a memo to REBNY members seen by the newspaper, Spinola said that based on private meetings with Cuomo, the Senate majority leader [Dean Skelos or Jeffrey Klein] and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, he had come to a clear conclusion: REBNY’s “past efforts to maintain a personal and supportive relationship was critical in shaping the outcome” of legislation. “Our future ability to adopt favorable legislation, stop terrible legislation or modify legislation to limit the pain to our industry is directly tied to our continued positive relationship,” Spinola continued in the memo.

Cuomo's largest donor, Glenwood Management, is at the center of both the Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos corruption cases.

Cuomo received $1.5 million from Glenwood during the last campaign cycle.

Cuomo said he would continue to take money from Glenwood because they have done nothing wrong and besides, he's never met with anybody from Glenwood to discuss anything related to real estate.

Except that he has - at least three times.

Here's Gothamist:

It's been two days since Governor Cuomo told reporters that he has "never" talked about rent regulations with real estate company Glenwood Management—one of the state's largest political donors, best known these days for allegedly passing favors under the table to both Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Today, however, Capital reports that Cuomo appears to be suffering from selective memory loss: According to the Governor's public schedule, he actually met with Glenwood three times back in 2011 to discuss, you guessed it, "rent regulations."

In one of those meetings, the only people in the room were the governor, Glenwood President Leonard Litwin, and Senior VP Charles Dorego, the guy who just signed a non-prosecution agreement with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and consequently has Albany lawmakers shaking in their loafers.

New York City's rent regulation law is set to expire June 15th, along with 421-a, a '70s-era tax subsidy that favors large developers like Glenwood. For the past few months, housing advocates have been pushing for stronger rent regulation laws, and the abolishment of 421-a. Cuomo has spoken out in favor of renewing both.

It's worth noting that Cuomo received a combined $1.5 million in donations from Glenwood and Litwin, in his last election cycle. Just this week, an indictment against Skelos accused the Senate majority leader of supporting developer-friendly rent control legislation, in exchange for Glenwood paying his son, Adam, for doing very little.

And in January, Silver was accused of sending Glenwood business to law firm Goldberg & Iryami, P.C. in exchange for referral fees. Of Albany's notorious three men in a room, Cuomo is the last one standing.

As if all this doesn't look bad enough, Capital notes that Cuomo's Glenwood meetings took place in the leadup to June 2011, the last time rent control laws and 421-a were up for renewal. 

David Sirota from IBTimes with a little more on Cuomo and Glenwood:

Neither Cuomo's office nor Glenwood Management responded to International Business Times' request for comment about the governor's relationship with Litwin. But documents reviewed by IBTimes illustrate Cuomo’s role in the developer's state business.

The Cuomo-run New York State Housing Finance Agency, for instance, approved a $260 million state-supported low-interest loan in 2014 to finance Glenwood’s new luxury apartment building in midtown Manhattan. At the time the loan to Glenwood was approved, the NYHFA was headed by Cuomo appointee Bill Mulrow, an executive and registered lobbyist at Blackstone, a private equity and real estate firm. Mulrow was just appointed to be the governor’s chief of staff. According to NYHFA documents, Glenwood also has had other business with the agency.

And then there was the "ethics" deal Cuomo got out of former Assembly Speaker Silver and soon-to-be-former Senate Majority Leader Skelos in return for shutting down the Moreland Commission that was investigating Albany corruption and had uncovered some dirt on both Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos.

That ethics deal was so lukewarm that the NY Times reported not much had really changed afterward. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that prosecutors were investigating "whether New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo or his staff directed an anticorruption commission to not refer cases to district attorneys for prosecution, according to people familiar with the matter."

In addition, the WSJ reported that prosecutors

are investigating whether the Cuomo administration interfered in the commission's work, and why the commission was disbanded.

Finally, prosecutors have indicated they want to know whether the governor's office pressured several commissioners to issue statements in recent weeks disputing the notion the administration had interfered in its investigations, these people said.

This is the stuff that's in the public record.

I'm sure there's a lot more that we don't know about, but given the Cuomo's administration's official policy to delete emails after 90 days, a lot of that may never be revealed.

Unless US Attorney Preet Bharara has wiretaps on people in Albany.

Oh, wait - he does.

And maybe if US Attorney Preet Bharara has some bad players cooperating with the feds against Albany politicians.

Oh, wait - he does.

I dunno if the feds are actually going after Cuomo for all this corruption, but there sure is a lot of smoke around Cuomo and his merry minions.

Seems to me if the feds look at Cuomo as closely as they looked at Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos, they'll find plenty to take him for an early morning police car ride downtown.

More Damning Details In Cuomo Pay-To-Play Scandal

David Sirota and Matthew Cunningham-Cook follow up on their pay-to-play piece on Andrew Cuomo last night with this:

The Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have over the past 2 1/2 years received taxpayer-financed contracts to help manage the sale of more than $3 billion worth of bonds for New York state, according to a review of state records by International Business Times. The three banking companies secured this lucrative line of business during the same period they delivered more than $132,000 in campaign contributions to Gov. Andrew Cuomo through political action committees under their corporate control.

...

• JPMorgan’s PAC gave Cuomo $15,000 April 10, 2013, and the Cuomo administration announced the firm would serve as an underwriter on a $46 million bond issue May 30, 2013.
• Citigroup's PAC gave Cuomo $15,000 May 1, 2013, and Cuomo officials named the firm an underwriter on a $61 million bond June 19, 2013.
• JPMorgan’s PAC gave Cuomo another $10,000 July 2, 2013, and the Cuomo administration named the firm an underwriter on another $36 million bond in August 2013.
• Bank of America’s PAC gave Cuomo $15,500 July 2, 2014, just after the firm had been named an underwriter on a June 2014 bond. Cuomo’s administration would subsequently name the firm an underwriter on a separate $185 million bond in March 2015.

The contracts to the banks went through a non-competive bidding process.

Can you say cha-chinggg!!!

Sony, News Corporation, REBNY, now the banks - who doesn't Cuomo hit up in the Quid Pro Cuomo game?

I dunno if the feds are looking into any of this stuff, but to be honest, the amount of money Cuomo's taking makes the Skelos stuff look small.

Cuomo's Biggest Donor, Glenwood Management, At Center Of Both Silver And Skelos Corruption

Chris Bragg in the Times Union:

The federal complaint from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office unsealed Monday details how a top Glenwood Management executive allegedly became one of the main cooperating witnesses against Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement.

Though unnamed in the complaint, the Times Union confirmed that the executive is Charles Dorego, the right-hand man to Glenwood's 100-year-old principal, Leonard Litwin. Dorego's attorney declined comment Monday.

Glenwood's payments to another top lawmaker, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, played a major role in this year's other major ethics scandal. As lawmakers deal with the renewal of rent laws and real estate tax breaks in the waning days of this year's legislative session, they may feel pressure to distance themselves from the powerful firm.

The Cuomo connection:

Glenwood is Gov. Andrew Cuomo's biggest campaign donor and a major part of two politically generous landlord groups, the Rent Stabilization Association and the Real Estate Board of New York.

In 2013, former top Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz reportedly tried to stop a subpoena from the Moreland Commission, an investigative panel convened by Cuomo, for information about REBNY's political giving and a valuable tax break related to new housing. REBNY eventually provided the information voluntarily.

After Cuomo shut down Moreland in 2014, Bharara's office picked up many of its investigations — while also probing potential Cuomo administration interference and the circumstances surrounding the panel's demise in March 2014.

REBNY was also among the biggest players in the Committee to Save New York, a nonprofit that spent millions early in Cuomo's tenure to push through his legislative agenda.

It will be interesting to see if Bharara and the feds picked up the REBNY/Glenwood/Cuomo investigation that Moreland couldn't complete.

Glenwood has now showed up in both the Silver and the Skelos cases.

Glenwood is Cuomo's biggest campaign donor.

He made sure the connection between REBNY and his campaign could not be investigated by the Moreland Commission.

He shut down the Committee To Save New York before he had to reveal who the donors were.

I can't imagine he is taking such pains to keep this stuff secret without there being a real need to keep it secret.

What other secrets will the feds learn from Dorego, the cooperating witness from Glenwood?

After Skelos Arrest, Attention Turns To The Third Amigo

Will Bharara indict Gov. Cuomo himself for interfering w/the Moreland Commission? @AndreaWNYC: "I wouldn't rule anything out."

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) May 4, 2015

There's the tampering and/or obstruction angle, to be sure, but there's also the plain old corruption angle too:

@ZephyrTeachout Glewood gave almost $1.5 million to Cuomo by the end of the cycle

— Bill Mahoney (@mahoneyw) May 4, 2015

Whoa! Skelos complaint shows Leonard Litwin's campaign cash bagman is cooperating w/ the feds. http://t.co/0JuJlRz1bu pic.twitter.com/qH7JWZzAQ9

— the albany project (@albanyproject) May 4, 2015

And given that, it seems that Preet Bharara has flipped Charles Dorego—a Glenwood executive—as a cooperating witness http://t.co/F3QXh10aZn

— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) May 4, 2015

.@ChrisBragg1 confirms that “CW-1” is Charles Dorego, senior VP of Glenwood Management.

— Capitol Confidential (@TUCapCon) May 4, 2015

Skelos complaint details Glenwood connection http://t.co/3wjVJgbbyK

— Josefa Velasquez (@J__Velasquez) May 4, 2015

More indictments coming? Bharara: "Implicit to any comments I make from this podium is you should stay tuned."

— Liz Benjamin (@CTLizB) May 4, 2015

Preet: "We have a public corruption unit that we have no intention of disbanding."

— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) May 4, 2015

Pro Publica reported in June 2014 that Cuomo had received $800,000 from Glenwood Management through various LLC's since 2011, but he has benefited a lot more since (as noted in the Bill Mahoney tweet above) if you factor in how much cash Glenwood president and CEO Leonard Litwin gave to not only Cuomo but the state Democratic Party and Kathy Hochul's campaign for lieutenant governor:

Billionaire real estate magnate Leonard Litwin has outspent all political donors.

The president and chief executive officer of Long Island-based Glenwood Management donated $1 million to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s re-election campaign. Litwin also donated almost a combined $500,000 to the state Democratic Party and Kathy Hochul’s campaign for lieutenant governor, according to data from the New York Public Interest Research Group cited by Crain’s.

The Glenwood/Litwin angle is important - especially now that Litwin's bagman is confirmed to be cooperating with the feds.

Here is David Sirota at IBTimes on the Cuomo/Litwin/Glenwood connection:

Neither Cuomo's office nor Glenwood Management responded to International Business Times' request for comment about the governor's relationship with Litwin. But documents reviewed by IBTimes illustrate Cuomo’s role in the developer's state business.

The Cuomo-run New York State Housing Finance Agency, for instance, approved a $260 million state-supported low-interest loan in 2014 to finance Glenwood’s new luxury apartment building in midtown Manhattan. At the time the loan to Glenwood was approved, the NYHFA was headed by Cuomo appointee Bill Mulrow, an executive and registered lobbyist at Blackstone, a private equity and real estate firm. Mulrow was just appointed to be the governor’s chief of staff. According to NYHFA documents, Glenwood also has had other business with the agency.

Similarly, Cuomo in 2011 signed Silver-backed legislation reauthorizing a then-expired property tax abatement for real estate developers called the 421a program. Cuomo also signed an extension of that program in 2013. Litwin’s firm used the 421a program for its Midtown Manhattan project, according to the New York Times. Glenwood has also used the 421a tax break for some of its other properties in the city.

In 2014, Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission, an anti-corruption panel that was examining the relationship between lawmakers and the real estate industry. The governor’s top aide at time, Larry Schwartz, called commission members to stop them from subpoenaing the Real Estate Board of New York, of which Litwin is the lifetime “honorary chairman.”

And then there was this non-Glenwood-related real estate funkiness:

Another real estate developer, the Extell Development Co., has also given extensively to Cuomo through LLCs, including two donations last year that were flagged by the Moreland Commission.

Two LLCs affiliated with Extell gave the governor a total of $100,000 on Jan. 28, 2013—two days before Cuomo signed legislation that granted a tax break to Extell's One57 skyscraper in Manhattan, as well as properties owned by four other developers. Two other LLCs with ties to Extell gave Cuomo another $100,000 six months later. (The contributions were first reported last year by The Daily News.)

...

There is no evidence that Cuomo played any role in inserting the tax breaks. Without naming Extell or Cuomo, however, the Moreland Commission called out the developers' donations, saying they created "the appearance of a relationship between large donations and legislation that specifically benefits large donors."

"Our investigation continues and we draw no premature conclusions" about whether the tax breaks were improper, the commission wrote in its December report, "but it is clear that the combination of very large campaign contributions and very narrowly targeted benefits to those same donors creates an appearance of impropriety that undermines public trust in our elected representatives."

That investigation didn't continue, at least not by the Moreland Commission, because Cuomo abruptly shut it down.

But Preet Bharara and the feds picked up the Moreland files, so perhaps that investigation continued in another guise?

More from Preet:

"You should assume we are look at everything that's worthy of looking at." Bharara

— Capitol Pressroom (@CapPressRoom) May 4, 2015

Once again, Bharara tells us to stay tuned.

— Capitol Pressroom (@CapPressRoom) May 4, 2015

What to stay tuned for?

Clearly Cuomo's ties to Leonard Litwin and Glenwood Management and just what he did in return for the campaign largesse, as well as his tampering in the Moreland Commission investigations, including putting the kibosh on investigations into his donors, and finally his shutting down of the commission as part of the budget deal with the now indicted Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos.

US Attorney Preet Bharara has taken down two of the three amigos in the fabled Albany room.

Could he take down the third?

Waiting For The Skelos Indictment - And What Might Come After

Chris Smith in New York Magazine:

The chatter about Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Albany's plague of corruption investigations went on all day, everywhere. In the state capitol's corridors, in the restaurants where the pols and the lobbyists eat lunch.

I hear Dean might be indicted Thursday.

Is this one of Dean's last days as Senate majority leader?

Who's next?

... 

"We've seen a lot of strange things in Albany," a veteran government operative says. "But we've never seen the indictment of two leaders of the legislature."

It hasn't happened. And maybe it never will. But the talk of the town has already moved on:

Will Bharara go for a trifecta?

A Skelos indictment is an almost near certainty - there's no way Bharara's office leaked the story of the Skelos scandal, complete with tales of subpoenas to Skelos' fellow Long Island Republican Senators and the empaneled grand jury looking into the State Senate Majority Leader, to the NY Times without an indictment coming down.

What comes after that will be most interesting.

Tom Libous, Skelos' deputy, is currently under indictment for lying to the FBI and has said he is dying from cancer.

Who takes over afterward, what exactly gets done in the waning days of the legislative session and what future leaks come from US Attorney Preet Bharara's office will be most interesting.

I know many readers on the blog are skeptical that Bharara is going to go for the trifecta and take down Cuomo too.

It seems almost unfathomable that the feds would take out all three men in the room in the New York government.

And yet, there is just enough smoke around Cuomo, his donors, the "pulled back" subpoenas, the Moreland Commission tampering and the like that, well, you never know...

David Sirota: Andrew Cuomo Benefited From Same Real Estate Figure That Shelly Silver Did

David Sirota at IBT:

A careful review of state documents reveals that Cuomo and Silver are connected by a key figure in the scandal. Both lawmakers have a financial relationship with the same New York real estate mogul, Leonard Litwin, who has in turn relied upon them for preferential tax treatment and other government benefits.

Silver is alleged to have benefited personally from Litwin’s spending -- and there is no dispute that Cuomo has benefited politically from that same largesse.

Litwin contributed $1 million to Cuomo’s reelection campaign and another $500,000 to the New York Democratic Party, making him the largest political donor in the state. His money flowed through 27 subsidiaries of his firm, Glenwood Management. Those subsidiaries were also clients of the real estate law firm that paid referral fees to Silver. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has alleged that Silver "induce[d] real estate developers with business before the state" to employ the law firm, which in turn made payments to Silver.

...

The Cuomo-run New York State Housing Finance Agency, for instance, approved a $260 million state-supported low-interest loan in 2014 to finance Glenwood’s new luxury apartment building in midtown Manhattan. At the time the loan to Glenwood was approved, the NYHFA was headed by Cuomo appointee Bill Mulrow, an executive and registered lobbyist at Blackstone, a private equity and real estate firm. Mulrow was just appointed to be the governor’s chief of staff. According to NYHFA documents, Glenwood also has had other business with the agency.

Similarly, Cuomo in 2011 signed Silver-backed legislation reauthorizing a then-expired property tax abatement for real estate developers called the 421a program. Cuomo also signed an extension of that program in 2013. Litwin’s firm used the 421a program for its Midtown Manhattan project, according to the New York Times. Glenwood has also used the 421a tax break for some of its other properties in the city.

You of course remember Larry Schwartz, Cuomo's secretary, had the Moreland Commission "pull back" subpoenas to REBNY, which Sirota notes has Leonard Litwin as its "honorary chairman."

Funny how Cuomo's secretary didn't want that link between REBNY and Cuomo investigated.

I dunno if Preet Bharara and his feds picked up that investigation or not.

But they certainly should have.

And if they did, I bet Cuomo's got trouble.

Because all that money from Litwin to Cuomo didn't come without strings.

One Crooked Politician Stumps For Another Crooked Politician

She's back from the political dead:

Gov. Cuomo's Women's Equality Party rallied today at City Hall to tout its massive signature-gathering effort ahead of November's election, but it was one woman who ended up stealing the show.

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, in her first visit to City Hall since leaving office last year, made a surprise appearance at the rally, where she had a starring role as MC.

Quinn, wearing a stylish new cropped hairdo, her trademark brightly colored toe nail polish and an 'I Heart Pro-Choice New York" sticker, said she was "thrilled" to be working with the newly formed group.

"I really couldn't be having more fun that I am with the Women's Equality [Party]," she said.

Quinn and Cuomo are both faves with the New York City real estate industry, which has as much or more to do with Quinn's stumping for Cuomo as the Women's Equality Party ballot line the Cuomo camp put together.

One crook stumping for another crook.

Politics as usual.