“Supreme Court overturns public-corruption conviction of Cuomo aide”

WaPo:

The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the 2018 conviction of a former aide to New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), once again expressing skepticism of the ways federal prosecutors combat public corruption and influence peddling.

The justices took the case to determine whether Joseph Percoco could be convicted of depriving the public of his “honest services” given thathe was working for Cuomo’s reelection campaign — rather than in his former role as an aide to the governor — when he accepted $35,000 in payments from a construction company.

Percoco made calls to state officials on the company’s behalf just before returning to government employment.

He was convicted on instructions “that required the jury to determine whether he had a ‘special relationship’ with the government and had ‘dominated and controlled’ government business,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for his unanimous colleagues.

“We conclude that this is not the proper test for determining whether a private person may be convicted of honest-services fraud.”

In a separate case, the court was also unanimous in overturning the conviction of business executive Louis Ciminelli and others who won a $750 million development contract as part of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion revitalization project.

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