(DNAINFO)  Ben Fractenberg | September 24, 2016 — Two former close aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo were indicted by federal prosecutors Thursday on bribery and fraud charges for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from an energy company and real estate developers in exchange for approving state contracts.

Joseph Percoco served as Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary and is charged with soliciting $315,000 in bribes which Todd Howe, a former aide to the governor who became a lobbyist, helped facilitate.

Also indicted were Alain Kaloyeros, president of State University of New York Polytechnic Institute in Utica. Some of the bribe money came from companies connected to Cuomo’s $1 billion plan to revive Buffalo’s economy and is referred to as the Buffalo Billion program.

“Companies got rich and the public got bamboozled,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday.

Source: READ THE DOCUMENTS: Ex-Cuomo Aides Took Bribes They Called ‘Ziti’, Feds Say – Civic Center – DNAinfo New York