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Andrew Cuomo ordered the refund of Covid books by the ethics board in New York


New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at his office on March 24, 2021 in New York City.

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A New York state ethics committee on Tuesday ordered disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo to pay his debts. more than 5 million dollars he received for writing a book about his handling of the Covid pandemic.

Cuomo’s attorney immediately announced that he would fight for repayment.

This order comes a month after the Joint Commission on Public Ethics took the first step of rescinding his approval for Cuomo to write the book “America’s Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

Among other reasons for denying approval, JCOPE cited misleading claims by attorney Cuomo that no New York government employees helped write the book.

In fact, investigators discovered that government employees assisted Cuomo on the project at the time his attorney made his promise last year.

“Contrary to statements made on behalf of Governor Cuomo and disclosed to the Commission, State property, resources, and personnel, including volunteer staff, were used in connection with the preparation,” wrote , edit and publish Books,” JCOPE said in a resolution last month.

The board also cites the fact that the book contract was withheld from JCOPE before approval was issued.

In a statement Tuesday, Cuomo attorney Jim McGuire said, “Today’s JCOPE actions are unconstitutional, beyond its own authority, and appear to be motivated by political interests rather than facts and the law.”

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“If they seek to enforce this action, we will see them in court,” McGuire added.

JCOPE’s order for Cuomo to repay the sum is complicated by questions about whether the ethics panel is competent to make such a claim. It’s also complicated by the fact that, according to a Cuomo spokesman, he donated $500,000 from his book return to the United Way of New York State and put $1 million of the compensation into a trust fund. for his three daughters.

Cuomo resigned in August over a harsh report from the state attorney general’s office, which concluded that three-term Democrats sexually harassed nearly a dozen women and that his employees were engaged in efforts to smear some of the accusers.

Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing but faces several criminal investigations for his alleged actions.

Cuomo won a deal to write the book for an imprint of Penguin Random House in 2020. At the time, he was being widely praised for his management of the New York coronavirus outbreak.

His handling of the crisis has since become less favorable, especially after it was revealed that his administration had covered up data on the deaths of nursing home residents from Covid.

Last week, a division of HarperCollins Publishing canceled plans to publish a book by Chris Cuomo, Cuomo’s younger brother., titled “Deeply Denied”, the following year.

CNN earlier this month fired Chris Cuomo as a primetime host on the cable news network After documents released by Attorney General Letitia James revealed that in discussions with staff of Andrew Cuomo, he shared and discussed passing on negative information about women who had denounced his brother. trouble.

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