Cuomos scandals have cost NY taxpayers whopping $60M and counting in legal bills: bombshell state audit
New York taxpayers have coughed up a whopping $60 million in legal fees stemming from the scandals that ensnared Andrew Cuomo’s administration, according to a bombshell new state audit that comes as the former governor seeks to become mayor.The updated tally from State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli sparked calls from other Democratic mayoral hopefuls for Cuomo to pay New Yorkers back — and to vow not to use another cent of taxpayer cash toward legal bills.The massive sum includes around $18 million to defend Cuomo against lawsuits filed by former aides and state employees accusing him of sexual harassment.
Taxpayers have so far spent $8.6 million to defend a still-pending harassment suit brought against him by a state trooper, and paid $9 million defending Cuomo from a suit brought by former aide Charlotte Bennett, who decided in December to drop the litigation.DiNapoli’s findings include another $11.7 million spent toward state probes — including into Cuomo’s handling of the COVID pandemic and his infamous $5 million pandemic book deal — and impeachment proceedings launched against the then-governor.The $29.7 million total in direct legal bills from Cuomo and his close associates that as of Friday taxpayers have been saddled with has grown by $4.2 million — or roughly $840,000 per month — since September.Taxpayers are on the hook for bills directly tied to Cuomo’s legal defense because he was successfully able to argue that the state should pay his legal costs since he was governor at the time of the allegations.The figures from the state comptroller also count $31.3 million in legal fees for state government agencies.
That includes funds not directly related to Cuomo’s legal defense, like the $6.6 million paid by Attorney General Letitia James’ office to white-shoe law firm Clearly Gottlieb to work on the sexual harassment probe into the then governor.One of Cuomo’s mayoral rivals, City Comptroller Brad Lander, seized on the new numbers in ...