Gov. Cuomo will be jobless, but has $2M from book earnings coming in
Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be leaving office in disgrace and amid a potential onslaught of legal troubles — but with a multimillion-dollar cushion to ease his way.
Cuomo’s controversial, $5.1 million deal for his memoir, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” includes $2 million in payouts this year and next, according to a financial disclosure form made public in May.
The Democrat — who announced his resignation on Tuesday in the middle of a sexual harassment scandal that was leading to his likely impeachment — was paid $3.1 million last year, according to tax returns he also released.
Cuomo’s office said he netted about $1.5 million after taxes and expenses, with one-third donated to the United Way of New York State and the rest plowed into an irrevocable trust for his three grown daughters.
The book briefly hit the New York Times best-seller list following its October publication, when Cuomo was still riding high following his once-popular daily pandemic briefings.
But sales stalled following the Christmas holiday season and the Crown Publishing Group stopped promoting it and scrapped plans for a paperback after sexual harassment allegations began mounting against him in late February.
State Attorney General Letitia James — whose devastating, 168-page report on the accusations led to Cuomo’s stunning resignation — last week said she’s still conducting a separate, criminal probe into whether he misused state resources by having state employees help produce and promote the book.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) also told The Post in May that federal investigators asked him about Cuomo’s book deal when they interviewed him in connection with the governor’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic.
In addition, the state Assembly Judiciary Committee has uncovered emails that show that former top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa — who abruptly quit her job Sunday night — gave Executive Chamber staffers “instructions … to help with the manuscript,” sources told The Post this week.
Cuomo has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and his spokesman has also said that any state workers who “volunteered” to work on the book “did so on his or her own time and without the use of state resources.”
“To the extent a document was printed, it was incidental,” spokesman Rich Azzopardi added.
