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 a speech Monday, saying Cuomo should be spending his own cash — or campaign funds raised specifically for that purpose — to cover his personal legal defense.
“This is money that he went into court to force taxpayers to spend for him, and what that gives him is an untapped spigot, a limitless amount to spend, not just on his own defense, but going after his accusers,” Lander told reporters. “Let’s be clear about this, Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed 13 women, and now he’s legally harassing them, and he’s making taxpayers accessory to his harassment and bullying.”
Lander added that Cuomo “should make a commitment that he will raise the money to refund New York state taxpayers for the $60 million in legal expenses that he has already forced us to expend.”
“And look, if he refuses either to answer the question or refuses to stop spending and refunding the money, he is sending a very clear message to every single taxpayer in New York City that he is going to put himself first and you second,” the comptroller added.
Cuomo has repeatedly denied the harassment allegations, and sought to cast them as politically motivated, but nonetheless resigned as governor in disgrace in August 2021.
His rep called the $60 million figure the inflated result of creative accounting.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi argued much of the legal fees referenced in the state comptroller’s audit were the result of James’ office opting not to rep them itself — forcing the state to hire outside law firms.
“Brad Lander should be more concerned about his ethical lapses stemming from his anti-Israel pension fund divestment strategy than about legal fees stemming from the AG’s multiple recusals,” Azzopardi told The Post.
He also noted that a Justice Department watchdog found in January that officials during the first Trump administration privately bragged about using their probe into whether Cuomo undercounted nursing home deaths during COVID to hurt the three-term Democrat politically, and help Trump, before the 2020 election.
“New Yorkers know the city is in crisis and that Andrew Cuomo has the experience, the record and the ability to save it and they won’t get confused by fuzzy math,” Azzopardi said.
— Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton and Craig McCarthy
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