Dive Brief:

• Attorneys for three former LPCiminelli executives who were charged in connection to a probe of New York's Buffalo Billion initiative have asked a Manhattan judge to dismiss all charges against the defendants, according to The Buffalo News.
• If the judge denies the motion, then legal counsel for Louis Ciminelli, Kevin Schuler and Michael Laipple, who are no longer with the company, have requested a change of venue from New York City to Buffalo, NY, arguing that Buffalo is where the alleged offenses occurred and where many of the potential defense witnesses reside.
• Documents submitted to the court also revealed that LPCiminelli has allegedly lost $4 billion in contracts and has needed to lay off 10% of its staff — after losing 14 projects — since the investigation and charges involving the company were made public.

Dive Insight:

Ciminelli, Schuler and Laipple were charged with bribery and bid-rigging in September — six other individuals were charged in the investigation as well — in relation to the construction contract award process for Buffalo Billion projects. Prosecutors allege that LPCiminelli paid bribes in the form of consultant fees to one of the other people charged in the case and a former adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo in order to secure $750 million worth of work in the program.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara started an investigation into the Buffalo Billion in 2015 and subpoenaed job records for the $900 million SolarCity plant project, a high-profile part the program. LPCiminelli is the general contractor for the factory's construction. As the inquiry began to intensify, state lawmakers began to look more closely at Cuomo's requests for additional funds for the project, as well as the contractor and subcontractor payment process.

However, the Fort Schuyler Management Corporation, an arm of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which is the governor's presumed economic development agency, engaged LPCiminelli for the SolarCity project, so defense attorneys also argued that LPCiminelli had no official state contract and there was no bid process so there could be no bid-rigging. No one at SolarCity has been charged in the Buffalo Billion investigation.

Cuomo kicked off the Buffalo Billion initiative a few years ago to try to boost the Western New York economy by bringing in $1 billion in investment. Just on the massive SolarCity project, officials reported that construction employment increased in the Buffalo area by 1,500 positions. As of September 2015, the Buffalo-Niagara region experienced an uptick in construction jobs of 26,000, the highest area figures reported in 25 years.