16 December 2021: A Reason for Cuomo to Go Along with JCOPE's Claw Back of Book Deal Millions

An Andrew Cuomo lawsuit to keep $5M book profits risks digging up more dirt: Lavine

This report covers an interesting insight by JCOPE Commissioner Gary Levine on why Andrew M. Cuomo may not want to sue the ethics watchdog for public officials to contest their order to give up the up-to-$5.2 million from his controversial pandemic "leadership" book deal:

The ex-governor is threatening to sue the Joint Commission on Public Ethics for ordering him to turn over the proceeds of his $5.1 million coronavirus book deal to state Attorney General Letitia James within 30 days.

JCOPE’s order on Tuesday came a month after it revoked its approval last year allowing Cuomo to write the book — after concluding he violated a pledge not to use staffers and other government resources to prepare it.

One commissioner on the ethics board said of the expected litigation: Bring it on!

JCOPE commissioner Gary Lavine said discovery material produced in any such court case could lead to more damning details about how the book deal came about, including what he suspected was potential collusion between the then-governor and pro-Cuomo JCOPE staffers.

The Cuomo book deal was originally given the OK by a JCOPE staffer, not by its appointed commissioners, and critics claimed the fix was in.

“I do not believe we have all the details on the book deal,” Lavine said. “Every time the book deal is subject to legal action, it’s subject to scrutiny.”

That it is. Should Cuomo choose to contest JCOPE's order to disgorge the guaranteed $5.2 million he gains from the book deal in court, the deal will be subject to discovery, which could open the resigned-in-disgrace former governor to additional legal liabilities.