New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has retained a high-profile white-collar criminal defense lawyer to represent his office in a federal probe of the state’s misreporting of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents.
The Democrat governor has come under fire in recent weeks over his office’s role in reporting the official count of coronavirus fatalities among patients of nursing and extended-care facilities, as well as for allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him.
Elkan Abramowitz, a former federal prosecutor now working in private practice in New York City, was hired to represent Cuomo’s “executive chamber” — the governor and his immediate staff — in the Justice Department inquiry into the COVID-19 nursing home deaths, the Wall Street Journal first reported Monday.
Abramowitz, a former federal prosecutor, has a history with the governor — serving as Cuomo’s legal counsel when former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara opened an inquiry into the dissolution of the defunct Moreland Commission, the New York Daily News reported.
He’s has also represented Woody Allen in his losing custody battle with actress Mia Farrow and when Dylan Farrow accused him of sexual assault, and disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo, told the Wall Street Journal that Cuomo hadn’t hired a lawyer in connection with the sex harassment probe he faces in the wake of accusations from two former aides.
The Cuomo administration has come under intense fire for the alleged coverup of nursing home deaths and the stonewalling of requests for an accurate tally from lawmakers, reporters and watchdog groups, the Daily News noted.
Source: Newmax
