Gov. Cuomo Stands To Make $5 Million From Controversial Book Deal, Tax Returns Show
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo stands to earn $5 million from a controversial book deal.
On Monday, the governor's office released his tax returns, which detail earnings from a memoir that was written during the coronavirus pandemic, CBS2's Dick Brennan reported.
Cuomo is mired in a series of scandals, including allegations of sexual misconduct, but this one is different. It's about money he earned and allegations over whether he covered up nursing home deaths at the time he was working on the book.
Cuomo wrote and released the memoir during the height of the COVID-19 crisis, when he was being lauded for his leadership.
Last year, he made $3.1 million, netting more than $1.5 million after expenses and taxes. He was promised $2 million more over the following two years.
The publisher canceled a paperback printing after The New York Times reported the governor's aides rewrote a health department report on nursing home fatalities to mask the actual number of deaths.
"It's absolutely disgusting. Every single New Yorker should be enraged to find out that Gov. Cuomo has made millions of dollars at the peak of the pandemic," said Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Democrat from Queens.
Kim said Cuomo also used his staff to write the book and is guilty of criminal wrongdoing.
"Was there profit motives behind suppressing life and death? Now we know there was clear profit motives. And there's no way to slice this, no way to spin this," Kim said.
The governor's office said he donated $500,000 of the book profits to the United Way of New York State for COVID relief and the rest went into a trust for this three children.
At a briefing before the release of his tax information, Cuomo addressed some questions regarding his other scandal: allegations of sexual misconduct against his employees.
Once again, Cuomo denied any improper behavior.
"It has been, I think, distorted in the press, and manipulated, and when the time is right I will tell you the truth and the facts, and I am very much looking forward to it," Cuomo said.
The governor, again, made a distinction between sexual harassment and making people feel uncomfortable. He insisted that just making people feel uncomfortable does not fit the legal definition of sexual harassment.
