Ciminelli sentenced for corruption conviction

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Buffalo developer Louis Ciminelli was sentenced to 28 months in prison and fined $500,000 by a federal judge in Manhattan Monday.

Ciminelli was convicted in July for his role in a bid rigging scheme that landed his company, LPCiminelli, a contract worth $26.25 million to build a 1.2 million square foot factory for SolarCity, now Tesla. Alain Kaloyeros, the state official who oversaw the project, was also convicted, along with two developers from Syracuse.

Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney, whose reporting in 2014 first exposed the scheme, told WGRZ’s Steve Brown on Monday that he considered the sentence “a slap on the wrist,” given the gravity of the scandal.