Manhattan DA closes probe into nursing home deaths without charging Cuomo: attorney

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is closing its investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing home COVID-19 deaths without bringing charges against Cuomo, according to the former governor’s attorney.

“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,” Elkan Abramowitz, a former federal prosecutor who had been hired to represent Cuomo, said Monday. “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.”

The investigation was opened after a report last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed that the state’s Department of Health underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%.

Cuomo had directed nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for or were suspected of having COVID-19 early in his pandemic response, a move that became controversial after thousands of elderly patients became infected with the virus. – READ MORE