18 March 2022: JCOPE Tries Again to Get NYS AG to Enforce Order Compelling Cuomo to Give Up Book Deal Proceeds

Ethics chair makes last push to force Cuomo to repay book profits

The chair of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) is still trying to get NYS Attorney General Letitia James to enforce an December 2021 order issued by JCOPE aimed at stripping Andrew M. Cuomo of the millions he received for his pandemic "leadership" book deal.

As New York's ethics commission mulls a new strategy to force ex-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to repay $5.1 million in book royalties, its chairman is making a final push to have state Attorney General Letitia James take action following months of resistance by her office.

According to a person with knowledge of the matter, Jose Nieves, the chairman of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, sent a letter to James on Thursday again asking her office to enforce a JCOPE order demanding Cuomo disgorge the royalties from writing his 2020 book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

Nieves' letter comes as JCOPE commissioners are set to hold a special meeting on Friday. Ahead of the meeting, a draft resolution is circulating among commissioners who could vote on it at the meeting....

In his letter to James, Nieves was said to have written that JCOPE possessed the legal authority to enforce a repayment order itself, but did not itself possess the "legal resources" to proactively stop Cuomo from enriching himself "unjustly."

The draft resolution soon to be considered by JCOPE's commissioners would use different legal approach to force Cuomo to give up the millions he received from the book deal, one that would not require the participation of the state attorney general's office. We anticipate we'll be following that potential outcome up in the near future.