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The New York Attorney General’s Office is hitting the brakes on the state's ethics board after it sought to seize more than $5 million in profits from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s book about leadership during the pandemic.
The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) previously voted to require Cuomo to return proceeds from his book “American Crisis,” for which he was paid more than $5 million by his publisher.
Cuomo was given 30 days to turn over the cash, which he vowed to fight in court.
However, days later, Attorney General Letitia James - a constant Cuomo critic - said that JCOPE must take additional “procedural” measures before her office can try to collect the millions.
According to James, JCOPE must “compile substantial basis investigation report or record” about why they believe Cuomo violated Public Officers Law.
The AG also said that the Commission must also lay out details for any penalties it plans to levy on Cuomo and disclose any correspondence that shows JCOPE informed Cuomo or his attorneys of the plan to seize his book fee, which seemingly caught his team by surprise.
“It is therefore premature to ask the OAG to begin collection efforts before a demand for payment is made to Mr. Cuomo, or his counsel, and he has had an opportunity to address the demand," Larry Schimmel, the general counsel for the attorney general’s office wrote in a letter to JCOPE.
"At the appropriate time, when statutory conditions are met, the OAG stands ready to assist the commission in the lawful discharge of its duties.”
Schimmel said JCOPE “appears” to have concluded that Cuomo “misused government resources” on the profit-driving memoir under the Public Officers Law.
“If that is the basis,” he said, “any referral to the OAG’s Civil Recoveries Bureau would need to be accompanied by the record of the administrative process, and the statutory authority for the decision, the amount of the imposed fines and penalties, and a determination concerning the appropriate amount of disgorgement attributable to the violation of law.”
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