Cuomo ordered to return the $ 5 million he received for his book on the COVID-19 pandemic

14 December former governor New Yorker Andrew Cuomo received a directive from the State Commission on Ethics (JCOPE). He must give up the millions of dollars he received to write a book on the COVID-19 pandemic. His lawyer immediately called the order unconstitutional and promised to challenge it. NBC New York... And the governor's spokesman called this demand "political hypocrisy and duplicity at its worst."

As requested by the commission, approved by 12 votes to 1, Cuomo is obliged to return the money he received for the book "American Crisis" ("American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic"), within 30 days.

The government officials who helped write the book were allegedly volunteers.

The commission's order to return the money came a month after the commission withdrew its decision to ethically approve payments to the governor for the book. The commission gave Cuomo this approval before he struck a $ 5,1 million book deal.

"American Crisis" was published in October 2020. Several months after that, Cuomo resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment. 11 women, including employees of his office, filed complaints against him.

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The Ethics Commission approved the deal in July 2020. Counselor Cuomo then told the commission that he would not be the governor using civil servants or state resources to produce the book. Cuomo had to write it "entirely in his spare time." Later, there were complaints that government resources and staff were used to write, edit and publish the book.

Cuomo acknowledged that state officials helped him with some tasks, including editing the manuscript. But he claimed that these employees were volunteers.

At the same time, the employees themselves said that they were asked to complete tasks on the book during the working day. Tasks included transcribing dictations, printing and delivering documents. Employees also attended meetings with agents and publishers. One senior state official sent and received a total of about 1000 emails related to work on the book.

Cuomo representatives expressed outrage

“JCOPE's actions are unconstitutional and beyond its mandate. Apparently, they are guided by political interests, not facts and the law, ”said Jim McGuire, Cuomo's lawyer.

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