17 October 2023: Cuomo Legal Probe Cost to NY Taxpayers at $20 Million and Rising

Taxpayers on hook for at least $20M from Cuomo investigations

Multiple federal, state, and local criminal and civil investigations into resigned-in-disgrace former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals, book deal, and the sexual harassment allegations that were used to force him from office have cost New York taxpayers over $20 million. But how much more than $20 million remains to be answered because the legal bills are still rising.

Here's the introduction from Brendan J. Lyons' coverage in the Albany Times-Union:

The myriad state and federal investigations of Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration have cost taxpayers at least $20 million in legal fees — expenses that continue to mount as the former governor defends himself in two sexual harassment lawsuits as well as an ongoing court battle over his lucrative deal to publish a book about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The article also provides the following information related to Cuomo's cost of defending himself from criminal charges stemming from Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals, which are a consequence of Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive:

Cuomo's legal expenses began to mount in March 2021 when the then-governor hired the white-collar law firm Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello to represent his administration in a now-dormant investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office that examined, in part, the actions of Cuomo’s coronavirus task force in its handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the pandemic. Cuomo hired the firm a month after the Times Union reported the administration was the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

That probe, which focused on the work of some of the senior members of the governor’s task force, resulted in no charges. The Morvillo Abramowitz firm has been paid more than $2.5 million for its work, which included responding to the Justice Department’s investigation that had also examined whether Cuomo’s administration had given false information about the number of nursing home deaths tied to COVID-19 in what critics charged was an attempt to buttress his book deal.

We'll interject at this point to note the responsibility for the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to not press criminal charges against Cuomo lies with the Biden administration. Cuomo is a close friend and political ally of President Biden. The administration's strange choice to let Cuomo escape facing any federal criminal charges in 2021 was an early indication of how it would approach criminal allegations against those closely linked to President Biden.

The next part of the article recaps Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals, including his administration's attempted cover-up of the excess deaths that resulted:

Nearly three weeks after the governor’s task force was announced in 2020, the state health department issued an order directing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to admit residents who were being discharged from hospitals even if they were still testing positive for the infectious disease, as long as the facilities were able to care for them properly.

That directive, which was rescinded less than two months later, became the focus of a firestorm of criticism directed at Cuomo’s administration, including allegations that the order — which the governor said was based on federal guidance — had contributed to the high number of fatalities of nursing home residents in New York. That assertion was largely dismissed in a July 2020 report released by the state Department of Health, which asserted the spread in those facilities was the result of infected staff members.

In January 2021, the office of Attorney General Letitia James issued a scathing report that concluded his administration’s directives may have increased the risk of COVID-19 infections at congregate facilities such as nursing homes. The report found the administration had deliberately delayed reporting that thousands of additional nursing home residents died at hospitals after being infected in their residential facilities.

Cuomo later stopped short of apologizing for his administration’s handling of the fatality data, though he conceded they had created a “void” by not providing the accurate information requested by state lawmakers. His office said some of the blame for that stonewalling was due to what they claimed was a politically motivated civil inquiry by the Justice Department.

Through 17 October 2023, Cuomo has failed to apologize for his nursing home deaths scandals.

Perhaps the greater shame however belongs to New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who declined to prosecute Cuomo under New York state law in any of Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals. Or for that matter, the sexual harassment allegations she raised.