Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has filed a lawsuit against a state ethics commission in an effort to prevent it from seizing profits he received from a memoir he wrote during the coronavirus pandemic, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic."
The lawsuit, filed Friday, accuses the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics of violating his rights to due process and claims the board "demonstrated extraordinary bias against him."
In December, the commission ordered the former governor to pay back the $5.1 million in proceeds from his book.
But after the board instructed Cuomo to return his book profits, New York Attorney General Letitia James' (D) office sent a letter saying that additional measures must be completed before the disgraced politician's money could be confiscated and that the board's order was "premature."
Cuomo's lawsuit said of the commission, "Never in the history of New York has an agency so breathtakingly and irresponsibly prejudged a matter on which it is the final decision maker."
The commission, which originally approved the book deal, revoked its decision in November after an investigation revealed he had used state resources and personnel to craft his memoir.
Cuomo's camp, however, has refuted allegations that state resources and personnel were utilized in writing his book.
The order to return the book's proceeds came after Cuomo resigned as governor in August following a report from James' office that had determined he had sexually harassed 11 women, a violation of state and federal law. Cuomo's resignation came as was facing the threat of impeachment.
And last month, in his first public remarks since resigning from office, the disgraced Democrat blamed cancel culture on his departure from office and suggested he may seek a return to public office in the future.