Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Ciminelli v. United States, a case that will decide whether a “right to control” assets in a viable theory of mail and wire fraud.

In 2012, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicked off the “Buffalo Billion” plan, which aimed to develop the greater Buffalo area by investing $1 billion in the region. This plan included investments into job-creating businesses and facilities. To administer the plan, a nonprofit entity called Fort Schuyler was used as a vehicle to purchase land and develop the facilities for the Buffalo Billion development projects. Alan Kaloyeros secured himself a highly influential role in Fort Schuyler—specifically, Kaloyeros and others created the request-for-proposal (RFP) process that was used to decide which companies and people were awarded contracts for the Buffalo Billion plan. Kaloyeros teamed up with Louis Ciminelli, who owned a construction company in the Buffalo area, to draft the RFP in a way that would give Ciminelli an advantage when contracts were awarded. As a result, Ciminelli’s construction company received “preferred bidder status” throughout the Buffalo Billion contract award process and, in turn, the company was awarded substantial contracts.