If you're running to be the next mayor of New York, you might want to prove to corruption-weary New Yorkers that unlike Eric Adams, you're not going to run an administration clouded by conflict of interest scandals and corruption charges.
But former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn't seem to agree. When asked to release a list of his consulting clients since he resigned from office, Cuomo refused, Politico reported on Monday.
"Since he left office, among other activities, Governor Cuomo has been engaged in private practice, providing legal services, representing individuals and corporations in a variety of matters, and does not comment on those private client matters," spokesperson Richard Azzopardi said in a statement to the outlet. Azzopardi added, "He has not represented clients before a New York City or state agency."
Cuomo started his legal consulting firm, Innovation Strategies LLC, in April 2022, about eight months after leaving office in a cloud of scandal. In 2024, he raked in more than half a million dollars from his consulting work.
And while Cuomo himself is keeping mum about his clients, we do know some details about who he's worked for.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Cuomo has been a paid adviser for a cryptocurrency exchange that was facing a federal probe and pleaded guilty to operating illegally in the U.S. Cuomo was reportedly speaking with company executives of OKX, a Seychelles-based exchange, "regularly" on how to best handle the FBI and federal prosecutors' criminal investigation into its U.S. dealings. He also reportedly "encouraged" the company to bring one of his allies onto its board of directors.
Cuomo's consulting company, Innovation Strategies, also advises the nuclear energy company NANO Nuclear Energy, according to NANO's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to NANO's website, the company is "an advanced technology-driven nuclear energy company."
But Nano's products, at least when Cuomo began his work there in March of 2024, seemed to be entirely theoretical. According to a Barron's story from last year, the company wanted "to place hundreds of small nuclear reactors at data centers, crypto miners, military bases, mines, and disaster areas," but that they hadn't built or patented any nuclear reactor, and had no full-time employees. NANO's prospectus and promotional videos from the time showed an artist's "conceptions" of these micro nuclear reactors, and the company's board of directors included a Florida orthopedist and a New York pharmacist.