ALBANY, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- Disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo sued a state ethics watchdog that ordered him to return the more than $5 million he made from his memoir about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lawsuit filed in Albany Supreme Court on Friday accused the Joint Commission on Public Ethics of violating Cuomo’s right to due process by not giving him a proper hearing before issuing the order.
JCOPE has broad authority to impose civil penalties for the ethics violations of public officials in New York State.
The commission originally approved Cuomo’s book on the condition that he not use state resources to produce it, but later found the former governor violated that condition by using state workers to assist in publishing.
Cuomo’s book, an autobiographical victory lap for his handling of the pandemic, was released in October 2020 — two months after the first coronavirus wave had tapered out in New York City and two months before the next wave started to pick up.
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