In two unanimous decisions handed down this month, the U.S. Supreme Court did exactly what was unfortunately expected and tossed out convictions won by famed corruption-buster former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. The justices didn’t like what both Bharara and the trial court had agreed was criminal behavior by Andrew Cuomo’s hatchet man Joe Percoco as well as a bunch of guys nailed in the ill-fated Buffalo Billion scandal.
In two separate cases, they were indicted, tried before a jury and convicted in 2018. Both verdicts were appealed and unanimously upheld in a joint ruling by a three-judge appeals panel in 2021 and the men appropriately packed off to federal prison. The cases were heard by the Big Nine last November, where the questions made clear where the justices were heading.
Thus the high court continues whittling away from the federal prosecutors’ tools of mail fraud and wire fraud and honest services theft and the Hobbs Act (which forbids quid pro quo). Regardless of what the justices think, public corruption does exist.
