Andrew Cuomo Suffers $5 Million Loss As Ethics Board Orders Him To Forfeit Book Profits
Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just suffered a massive loss and was ordered by a state ethics board to return the $5.1 million he made in from his scandalous Covid memoir.
The ethics board ordered Cuomo to give the $5.1 million to the state of New York within the next month. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics decided in a 12-1 vote today to order Cuomo to hand over the money to the state attorney general’s office.
They gave him 30 days to turn over his ill-gotten gains. The book deal was approved by the ethics board with one stipulation. They mandated that Cuomo write it ‘entirely on his own time, without the use of state resources or personnel.’
But that myth came crashing down when it was revealed as Cuomo was engulfed in multiple scandals that he used state resources to write the book including using government staff.
Cuomo’s attorney, Jim McGuire, claimed the board’s move was illegal and vowed to fight.
“JCOPE’s actions today are unconstitutional, exceed it’s own authority and appear to be driven by political interests rather than the facts and the law,” said McGuire.
“Should they seek to enforce this action, we’ll see them in court,” he said.
“These JCOPE members are acting outside the scope of their authority and are carrying the water of the politicians who appointed them,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said.
“It is the height of hypocrisy for Hochul and the legislature’s appointees to take this position, given that these elected officials routinely use their own staff for political and personal assistance on their own time. They truly are a joke.”
New York state’s ethics watchdog passed a resolution Tuesday ordering former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to relinquish millions of dollars he received for the memoir he wrote about his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The order approved by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics gives the Democrat 30 days to hand over the funds to the state attorney general’s office.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo must repay the more than $5 million in compensation he received for his 2020 book, an ethics panel decides https://t.co/of4OtwKVwe
— Bloomberg (@business) December 14, 2021
The ethics committee effort to get Cuomo to forfeit some $5M in book earnings is by far the largest penalty its ever sought. The most sought before today was $330,000 from frmr Assembly Member Vito Lopez, who was accused by 2 staffers of sexual harassment.https://t.co/k8BhgeGV4U
— Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) December 14, 2021
Ethics panel issues order demanding Andrew Cuomo repay $5M from writing "American Crisis," setting up legal fight https://t.co/QzppKPB354
— Chris Bragg (@ChrisBragg1) December 14, 2021