This timeline entry was retroactively added on 22 November 2021, based on the findings of the New York State Assembly's impeachment probe report.
- Impeachment Investigation Report to Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Lavine and the New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee
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The following excerpt describes the basic terms of Andrew M. Cuomo's pandemic "leadership" book deal that were reached on 10 July 2020 with the winning auction bid of Penguin Random House (PRH). The contractual details were finalized over the following week:
The winning publishing house, PRH, prevailed on July 10, 2020. The ensuing contract was negotiated over the next week, and guaranteed compensation of $5.2 million in royalty advances. As noted above, of the total guaranteed, $3.12 million was paid to the then-Governor by the time of publication and the former Governor was scheduled to receive an additional $2.08 million in equal parts in October 2021 and October 2022. The contract also provided for additional refresher bonuses of around $1.25 million, which would be triggered if certain earnings targets were reached.
Two days later, Cuomo would give the first public indication he was "thinking about writing a book about what we went through, lessons learned, the entire experience". At this point, over 90% of the material that would be published under the title "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic" had been generated.
Other timeline entries will give different estimates of the value of Cuomo's pandemic "leadership" book deal, based on the best estimates that were available at the time the entries were written. Many contemporary reports continue to identify the guaranteed value of the agreement as $5.12 million, where we're uncertain how the the additonal $80,000 in payments indicated in the NY Assembly's impeachment probe report factor into the full compensation.
