Two arguments were presented to the Supreme Court on Monday regarding cases from when Cuomo was in office.
It looked like the Supreme Court was going to make it harder for prosecutors to pursue a political corruption case against certain political members.
Each case came from the administration of former Governor Andrew Cuomo with one involving a top aide and one involving an economic development plan called the Buffalo Billion.
The first case heard involved former aide Joe Percoco who was convicted for soliciting a bribe worth $35,000 from a developer. The argument presented was that he was not a formal government employee when this happened, he was just working on Cuomo’s campaign. This resulted in questioning whether this was corruption or political lobbying and where that line should be. Prosecutors claimed that despite not being on government payroll, Percoco could access a phone and key card. It was also brought up that government employees have manipulated the system, sometimes going off government payroll and onto campaign payroll, only to return to the government payroll.
Louis Ciminelli from the Buffalo Billion initiative is looking to overturn his own conviction. He was accused of trying to rig the bidding process when it came to getting the contract.
Rulings regarding these cases will be made in the coming months.
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