Jan 4, 20221 min
January 3, 2022
The Manhattan district attorney's office is closing its probe into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) handling of nursing home deaths during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, an attorney for Cuomo said Monday.
Elkan Abramowitz, a former high-ranking federal prosecutor who was hired by Cuomo while he was still in office, said there will be no charges.
“I was contacted today by the head of the Elder Care Unit from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who informed me they have closed its investigation involving the Executive Chamber and nursing homes. I was told that after a thorough investigation – as we have said all along – there was no evidence to suggest that any laws were broken,” Abramowitz said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An investigation by the New York attorney general found that Cuomo’s administration undercounted coronavirus-related deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.
A separate investigation by the New York Assembly also recently concluded that Cuomo's administration misrepresented data on COVID-19 nursing home deaths.
New York counted only residents who died on nursing home property and did not include those who were transferred to hospitals. But according to the report, most of the deaths occurred in hospitals.
Cuomo announced his resignation in August after the New York state attorney general's office released a report detailing numerous allegations of sexual harassment from multiple women. Cuomo has denied the allegations.
Source: The HILL