The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn and the FBI are investigating how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration handled data on nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York, the investigation is in its preliminary stages.
Cuomo is under fire after his aide Melissa DeRosa admitted the administration withheld data on nursing home deaths from media and lawmakers fearing a Trump administration Justice Department investigation.
Cuomo is one of five Democrat governors who issued a mandate to nursing homes at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to take in COVID-19 positive patients.
More than 15,000 people have died in New York state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities from COVID-19, but as recently as last month, the state reported only 8,500 deaths.
The Times Union noted the new probe is looking at the work of some of the senior members of Cuomo’s coronavirus task force.
NBC News reported that spokespeople for the U.S. attorney and the FBI declined to comment.
"As we publicly said, DOJ (Department of Justice) has been looking into this for months," said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for the governor. "We have been cooperating with them and we will continue to."
The network news reported that the U.S. Eastern District is likely handing the new probe because U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss for the Southern District is the mother-in-law of Cuomo’s aide DeRosa and would have to recuse herself and her office.