A Buffalo business executive who is a defendant in a federal case involving the alleged bid-rigging of massive upstate development projects pled guilty Friday afternoon and agreed to cooperate with the government.

Kevin Schuler, a former executive at the Buffalo development firm LPCiminelli, pleaded guilty before before U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. Schuler pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a bribery charge.

A cooperation agreement was attached to the court filing documenting his change of plea, but its contents were not made public.

Schuler is among three people at LPCiminelli that were charged in the case. Two others, Louis Ciminelli and Michael Laipple, await trial in June. The remaining defendants, also facing trial in June, are Joseph Gerardi and Steven Aiello of the Syracuse-area firm COR Development, and Alain Kaloyeros, the former president and founder of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

"Kevin Schuler is a good man, but he's not the first person to plead guilty under the pressure of a federal criminal indictment," Paul Shechtman, an attorney for Louis Ciminelli, said in a statement. "I remain confident that at trial Kevin's testimony will prove favorable to Louis Ciminelli and Michael Laipple, who I know he respects greatly."

A cooperating witness in the case who had already pleaded guilty is lobbyist Todd Howe, who admitted orchestrating the bid-rigging of "Buffalo Billion" development initiatives in exchange for kickbacks.

Kaloyeros also faces related state charges, and a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Joseph Percoco, was found guilty on three felony counts earlier this year in a related federal case.

The Syracuse Post-Standard first reported the court filing Friday.