New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference in New York City.
The New York state ethics commission ordered Andrew Cuomo to repay the money he received to write a book.
The lawyer for Cuomo vowed to fight the demand for repayment.
The order comes a month after the Joint Commission on Public Ethics took the initial step of withdrawing its approval for Cuomo to write the book.
The approval was reversed due to misleading claims by Cuomo's lawyer that no New York government employees would help write the book.
Cuomo's lawyer made a promise last year that government workers would help with the project.
The preparation, writing, editing and publication of the book were done with resources and personnel from the state, according to a resolution last month.
The book contract was not approved before it was released by the board.
Cuomo's lawyer said in a statement Tuesday that the actions ofJCOPE were unconstitutional and appeared to be driven by political interests rather than facts.
We will see them in court if they try to enforce this action.
The ethics panel has the power to make such a demand, but the order to repay the money is complicated by that. Cuomo has donated $500,000 from his book payment to the United Way of New York State and put $1 million into a trust for his three daughters, according to his spokesman.
Cuomo resigned in August in the face of a report from the state attorney general's office which concluded that the three-term Democrat sexually harassed nearly a dozen women and that his staff engaged in efforts to try to taint a number of accusers.
Cuomo faces several criminal investigations for his alleged actions.
Cuomo was given the chance to write a book for the Penguin Random House imprint. He was praised for his work in the New York coronaviruses outbreak.
His handling of the crisis has become less favorable after it was revealed that his administration covered up data about deaths of nursing home residents.
Chris Cuomo was to write a book titled "Deep Denial" next year.
Chris Cuomo was fired from his job as host of a prime-time show on CNN after documents released by the Attorney General revealed that he shared negative information about women who had accused Andrew Cuomo of harassment.
