The FBI raided the homes of two men close to Gov. Cuomo as part of the widening federal probe into Albany corruption.
Agents carted off evidence from the Westchester home of former top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco and the Washington, DC-area home of lobbyist Todd Howe, who was fired last week after Cuomo’s office barred state officials from any contact with him, sources said.
A Manhattan federal judge approved search warrants for at least three locations, and the raids were carried out two weeks ago, a law-enforcement source said.
The feds were able to secure the warrant for Howe’s out-of-state home by arguing that he conducted business within the Southern District of New York, which covers Manhattan, The Bronx and the northern suburbs, the source said.
Howe and Percoco, who in January began working as a top exec at Madison Square Garden, are at the center of a probe that Cuomo’s office has said involves “questions of improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest by some individuals which may have deceived state employees involved in the respective programs and may have defrauded the state.”
Sources have said the investigation involves funding for economic revitalization efforts upstate, including a Cuomo pet project called the Buffalo Billion.
Both Percoco and Howe have longstanding ties to Gov. Cuomo and also worked for his late father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
They also have a history of money troubles. The Post revealed last week that Percoco used a shady mortgage broker with ties to Gov. Cuomo to secure a near 100-percent loan for his house in South Salem in 2012.
Howe, meanwhile, racked up $59,733 in IRS tax liens between 2003 through 2009 before paying off nearly $42,000 of the debt last year, records show.
Howe’s lawyer, Richard Morvillo, said Sunday that Howe never “crossed the line” and “received expert advice to ensure that the activities . . . were appropriate.” Neither Percoco’s lawyer nor Cuomo’s office immediately returned requests for comment Sunday night.
