Monday, April 12, 2021

12 April 2021: Will NY Attorney General Letitia James Investigate Cuomo Nursing Homes Scandals?

Letitia James urged to probe Cuomo’s COVID nursing home actions

Last week, New York State Comptroller passed the buck in making an official referral to New York State Attorney General Letitia James to launch an investigation of the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. DiNapoli's choice is focusing attention now on AG "Tish" James, who has yet to respond or to indicate if her office will engage in a serious investigation of Governor Cuomo's multiple COVID nursing homes scandals.

This report indicates the same group that sought DiNapoli's involvement is now seeking a response from James:

Voices for Seniors — a group that advocates for the families — sent a letter to James calling for investigations into Cuomo for malfeasance, including a since-rescinded policy requiring nursing homes to accept recovering COVID patients discharged from hospitals.

They also claim he used publicly-funded staffers to draft his COVID “leadership” book, tampered with public documents by under-counting COVID nursing home deaths and granted hospitals and nursing homes immunity from medical malpractice suits during the early months of the pandemic.

James has yet to respond to the group’s plea, said Voices For Seniors co-founder Vivian Zayas.

“We have not received a reply to our letter. Why is this issue not a priority compared to the sexual harassment complaints?,” Zayas asked.

James’ office is already investigating sexual harassment allegations leveled against the governor by staffers and former staffers.

“We’re requesting a meeting with the attorney general and urge her to investigate Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes. We’re pleading with AG James on behalf of families who lost loved ones to deliver accountability,” Zayas said.

The article also explains what the state attorney general's office could investigate without DiNapoli's active involvement:

Sources said the AG could investigate the violations of laws including tampering with public documents (Class D felony), obstruction of governmental administration (Class A Misdemeanor and violations of the public officers law.

The timeline recently presented the following entry, which helps tie together how these alleged violations of New York state law are intertwined:

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