State Attorney General Letitia James’ office reaffirmed that it has an active criminal probe into whether Andrew Cuomo illegally used staffers in preparing his lucrative coronavirus pandemic memoir — just days after the disgraced ex-governor sued the government watchdog agency to keep the proceeds.

James launched a probe into the $5.1 million profit-making memoir last April after getting a referral from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who asked her to “investigate the alleged commission of any indictable offense or offenses” related to the book deal.

Her office issued a subpoena to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics last September requesting all records regarding the Cuomo book deal.

It was a devastating investigative report commissioned by James last August that concluded Cuomo sexually harassed or mistreated a slew of women — including female government staffers. He was then forced to resign under the threat of impeachment. Cuomo has noted that five different prosecutors declined to press charges against him.

A lawyer for one of the witnesses — who requested anonymity — said the AG’s office informed him back in December that the book probe was “completed.”

James’ office said the Cuomo book investigation is ongoing but declined further comment.

Nursing home families and Albany insiders have questioned why it’s taken so long for the attorney general’s office to complete the book probe.

“It’s taken much longer than I expected. It’s pretty clear cut — Cuomo did it or didn’t do it,” said Peter Arbeeny, whose father, Norman, died after contracting COVID-19 in a Brooklyn nursing home in 2020.

Still, Arbeeny said he still had “complete faith” that James will issue a report on the findings.

One government watchdog said it’s time for the attorney general to come clean on the book deal probe.

“The conventional wisdom in Albany is she’s doing nothing and the investigation has stalled. But we don’t know,” said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany.

“If this is an ongoing investigation it’s reasonable to say when it’s going to be closed and what’s the timeframe on this? Especially because she’s been criticized for this being politically motivated against Cuomo.”

JCOPE initially approved Cuomo’s plan to publish and earn a profit from the book, under an agreement that he wouldn’t use staff or other government resources to prepare it.

JCOPE rescinded its approval of the book deal after concluding that Cuomo violated a directive not to use staffers and public resources to prepare it and has since sought to force him to cough up the profits. Cuomo said the staffers volunteered their time and he did not break the law.

“As we’ve said all along — just like legislative or other government staffers working on political campaigns — on advice of counsel, aides who were involved did so volunteering on their own time,” Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said. 

Assemblyman Charles Lavine, who chairs the judiciary committee that issued a damning investigative report on Cuomo’s use of staffers to prepare the book, said, “His actions completely contravene JCOPE’s directive to him regarding the book. The former governor is left with little but chutzpah.”