- Andrew Cuomo used campaign funds to pay attorney in sexual harassment case, disclosure shows
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This report indicates Andrew M. Cuomo is also tapping his $18 million campaign fund to pay for a portion of the costs of his legal expenses.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo used campaign funds to pay the attorney representing him in his sexual harassment case despite previously stating that he would use state financing to pay for his legal fees.
Cuomo's reelection campaign, "Andrew Cuomo for New York," gave Glavin PLLC, a New York-based law firm, $111,774 on May 3 and $173,098 on June 2, according to disclosures released by New York's Board of Elections on Friday. That same June day, Cuomo told reporters that he would use taxpayer funding rather than campaign finances for his legal defense amid the New York State Assembly's "impeachment investigation" into claims of sexual harassment against the governor.
"The way it works is the Executive Chamber has retained a counsel, and that is a state expense, [as] it has been in every investigation, so that's where we are now," he said at New York City's Javits Center on June 2.
New York taxpayers have contributed over $750,000 to Cuomo's legal expenses as he defends himself from the multiple scandals that have come to define the last year of his tenure in offce.
Coming so soon after indicating they would not be used, we suspect the use of campaign funds to pay a portion of Cuomo's legal costs is an early indication Cuomo expects they will exceed the $2.5 million cap that would require him to seek new approval from New York's State Comptroller's office to spend more than the amount already approved.
