#Families of nursing home victims say Cuomo should donate book money

The families of seniors who died after contracting COVID-19 in New York nursing homes say Gov. Andrew Cuomo should donate the money he made off his book detailing how he took charge in the fight against the pandemic.

Daniel Arbeeny, whose 89-year-old father died in a COVID-19 stricken nursing home, told Fox News the money should be put in a fund for the victims’ families.

“The best case scenario is the profits go to a fund for the grieving families. There should be a fund set up,” Arbeeny said. “They have a 9/11 memorial. Losing in New York State 15,000 of our most vulnerable and cherished residents, family members, we need a memorial, and that should go to fund the memorial.”

“A book publisher paid him seven figures and that was all based on a lie. So his pandemic response caused the deaths of thousands of nursing home patients that don’t have a voice,” he continued.

Grace Colucci said her father, 89-year-old John Daly, died from getting coronavirus in a New York nursing home last spring.

She suggested Cuomo’s book royalties should also go to families who are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

“I think it would be nice if the money was donated for a fund for families that are dealing with hardship, not necessarily just grieving families,” Colucci told Fox News. “A lot of families in New York City have lost their livelihoods.”

Cuomo’s book “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” was released last year, and has sold low to mid-seven figures, according to Vanity Fair.

But sales have drastically dropped amid investigations into the nursing home scandal and inappropriate behavior claims from at least six women.

Crown Publishing Group paused sales of the book citing an ongoing federal investigation of the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic, the New York Times reported Monday.

The Post exclusively revealed in February that Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa privately admitted to Democratic lawmakers that the administration hid nursing home death numbers over fears that they would be prosecuted by federal prosecutors.

DeRosa’s bombshell admission prompted lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to call on Cuomo to resign.

The governor has made clear he has no plans to resign despite mounting criticism and several probes launched against him and his administration.