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A sister of New York governor Andrew Cuomo allegedly helped raise money for a crooked former aide convicted in a 'pay-to-play' scheme.

Madeline Cuomo helped raise $75,000 to help pay for Joseph Percoco's legal appeal after he was convicted of a $300,000 pay-to-play scam, according to The New York Times. She was allegedly assisted by other members of the inner circle including former head of the state Democratic party John Marino.

A spokesman for Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday insisted the governor had no knowledge of the reported fundraising effort. The governor was seen leaving New York City in a helicopter on Tuesday, presumably returning home as his schedule calls for him to be in Albany on Wednesday. 

Percoco, 52, was convicted of soliciting and accepting at least $300,000 in bribes from executives while he was an aid for the governor and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Most of the bribes came from Competitive Power Ventures, based in Maryland but with business in New York, who gave Percoco's wife a 'low-show job.' 

Andrew's sister Madeline Cuomo (right) was reportedly part of a fundraising effort for Percoco's appeal

Joe Percoco, former top aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, leaves federal court after being sentenced to six years in prison for corruption charges September 20, 2018

The governor was not accused of wrongdoing, though the scandal was felt across Albany. 

Yet members of Andrew Cuomo's inner circle continued to support Percoco, according to the Times, going so far as to raise money for a potential appeal. 

Madeline Cuomo reportedly sent an email in February 2020 asking for donations for Percoco from two dozen people, including a former chief of staff to Cuomo and the leader of Northwell Health.

'Joe and his family are grateful for all your support to date,' Madeline wrote. 'Unfortunately, his fight is far from over, and in order to continue his legal battle he’ll need financial resources.'

'My family and I will be participating in that effort, and I hope we can count on you to join in the effort,' Madeline added.

Those who chose to give money said they did so because of personal history and sympathy, not because of loyalty to Andrew or responsibility to the Cuomo family. 

'It wasn’t a big deal,' Meyer Frucher, former aide to Mario Cuomo, stated. 'Joe was someone I knew and worked with in government for a long time. Everybody needs legal counsel.' 

Madeline has denied telling her brother, the embattled New York governor, about the plan to raise money for Percoco.

'I have known Joe most of my life, and I care for my friend,' Madeline Cuomo said in a a statement.

'I did want to help him, but once the pandemic hit, everyone’s priorities quickly shifted,' she added. 'My brother Andrew was neither involved with, nor privy to, my independent effort. I still believe helping a friend is the morally right thing to do.'

Cuomo's campaign committee did help to foot $80,000 in legal fees for Percoco following his 2016 arrest.

Cuomo (security detail seen) flew out of New York City by helicopter on Tuesday

Tuesday's revelations could mark the latest scandal for the embattled governor

In total, Percoco's legal bills have likely totaled more than $1 million at this point. His lawyers said he was facing bankruptcy prior to his sentencing.

It's believed that the firm that led the representation for Percoco is still owed money. 

Prosecutors had asked Caproni to sentence Percoco to well over five years in prison. His lawyers said he should get no more than two years.

Percoco worked for Andrew's father, Mario, beginning when Percoco was just 19 years old, before eventually latching on to Andrew himself. 

Cuomo said there would be 'no tolerance' for corruption in his administration after the allegations against Percoco came to light.

'Joe Percoco is paying the price for violating the public trust,' Cuomo added in 2018.

Andrew Cuomo and Madeline Cuomo seen together in an archival photo

The Cuomo family (l-r) Maria, 15, Madeline, 12, Andrew, 19, Margaret, 22, Mario Cuomo, Christopher, 7, and mother Matilda at their home on Sept. 13, 1977

New York's 52nd Governor, Mario Cuomo and family pose following a private swearing-in ceremony at the Executive Mansion. Left to right: Son-in-law, Robert Perpignano and Cuomo's daughter, Margaret, daughters Madeline and Maria, Governor Cuomo, wife Matilda, and sons, Andrew and Christopher

Cuomo has been embroiled in controversies in recent months and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio referenced Percoco once in taking a shot at the governor.

'I will remind you the governor’s top political aide went to federal prison for corruption and bribery,' de Blasio said in an interview with WNYC in March.

Andrew Cuomo's scandal-plagued office allegedly spent at least five months trying to prevent the true COVID-19 nursing home death toll from being made public. 

Top Cuomo aides were engaged in the months-long effort where they repeatedly overruled and prevented state health officials from releasing the number of nursing home deaths, the New York Times reports. 

The efforts included stopping the publication of a scientific paper that included the true tally. Aides also stopped health officials from sending two letters to state legislators regarding the toll, according to the Times. 

Among the health officials who were allegedly stopped from releasing the true numbers was state health commissioner Dr Howard Zucker. 

It was happening at a time when Cuomo was writing his since-released book about his handling of his pandemic.

The revelations are based on NYT interviews and newly unearthed documents, including drafts of the scientific paper and the letters that were never sent. 

The report came at the same time as Cuomo is facing multiple investigations, including by the state's attorney general, from women who alleged sexual harassment and misconduct. Cuomo has strongly denied the accusations. 

Cuomo has come under intense scrutiny over his nursing home COVID-19 response after he barred nursing homes from rejecting recovering coronavirus patients being discharged from hospitals in March. 

Cuomo has been embroiled in controversies lately, from a scandal involving the counting of nursing home deaths from COVID-19 to numerous sexual misconduct allegations

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo leaves New York City by helicopter escorted by security

He eventually rescinded his nursing home order two months later and insisted on a negative COVID test instead before return to a nursing home. Some nursing homes complained at the time that residents were being put at risk because of his policy. 

Some patients who contracted COVID but later died in hospital were not counted in the official death count being released by Cuomo's administration. 

The administration refused for months to release more complete data and the true death toll was only released this year after a report by the New York state attorney general found deaths had been undercounted by about half.

The state now acknowledges that at least 15,000 long-term care residents died, compared to a figure of 8,700 it had publicized as of late January that didn't include residents who died after being transferred to hospitals. 

Cuomo, at the time, admitted it was a mistake to delay releasing the figures but insisted they were not trying to obscure the death toll.  

Sources now say, however, that state health officials started trying to work out how many nursing home residents had died as early as late April. 

They gathered data on both nursing home deaths and residents who died in hospital after being transferred there. 

When health officials started compiling a report on the issue, Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa sent an email saying it needed to 'stand up to scrutiny and definitively tell the story'. 

The report was published publicly in July and didn't include the hospital deaths. It said that about 21 percent of all deaths through May were nursing home fatalities. 

A different version of the report, which was aimed at the scientific press and drafted at the same time, said 35 percent of deaths were nursing homes.  That scientific version was never published.  

A Cuomo aide, who was enlisted to go over the data, finished his audit of nursing home deaths in August - months before it became known publicly.

The audit did not change the death toll from about 9,000.

Around the time the audit was finished was when the Justice Department started asking states for the number of residents, staff and visitors who contracted COVID-19 or died of the virus and the number of people admitted to each nursing home after being treated for COVID-19 at a hospital. 

Cuomo's office has been hit with allegations that health officials did include the full tally in a report but were pressured by top aides to remove the hospital deaths before it was made public. 

 The administration's handling of the data is now the subject of a federal investigation and an inquiry by the state Assembly, which is assessing whether there are grounds to impeach Cuomo.

The women who've accused Gov Andrew Cuomo of harassment

Lindsay Boylan, 36 

Former aide Lindsay Boylan, 36, was the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment in a Medium post on February 24. She claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker and kissed her on the lips without her permission when she worked for him in 2017. 

Lindsay Boylan, 36

Charlotte Bennett, 25

Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward a few days after Boylan and claimed that Cuomo sexually harassed her last June while she was working as a health policy adviser in his administration at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.

Bennett accused Cuomo of 'grooming' her and asking inappropriate questions about her sex life. 

She also claimed that he told her he was open to dating women in their 20s. 

BENNETT said the governor asked her about her love life - including whether she ever had sex with older men - and talked about his own, saying that age differences didn't matter in relationships and he was open to dating women over 22. 

During a meeting alone in his office, the governor said he was lonely and talked about wanting to hug someone, Bennett said. 

She said she swiftly complained to Cuomo's chief of staff and was transferred to another job. 

She said she spoke to a lawyer for the governor, but didn´t insist on further action because she liked her new post and wanted to move on. 

Charlotte Bennett, 25

Anna Ruch, 33

Anna Ruch was the third woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment and the only one thus far who did not work with him in a professional capacity. She claimed that Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her just moments after they met at a September 2019 wedding in Manhattan. 

Anna Ruch, 33

Ana Liss, 35

Ana Liss, 35, a former aide, said Cuomo asked her whether she had a boyfriend, once kissed her hand at her desk and called her by patronizing names, including 'blondie,' 'sweetheart' and 'honey.' 

At a reception, the governor hugged her then put his arm around her lower back and waist as they posed for photo, Liss said. 

She said she eventually asked for a job transfer. In an interview, Liss said she was 'not claiming sexual harassment per se,' but felt the administration 'wasn't a safe space for young women to work.' 

Liss, who previously served as Cuomo's policy and operations aide between 2013 and 2015, told the Wall Street Journal that during her time in his administration, the governor had subjected her to unsolicited advances, including touching her lower back, kissing her hand and quizzing her about her love life. 

Ana Liss, 35

Karen Hinton, 62  

The oldest allegations against Cuomo came from Karen Hinton, who served as a press aide for him when he led the US Department of Housing and Urban Development two decades ago and she was a consultant for the agency. Hinton told the Washington Post about a 2000 incident when she said Cuomo summoned her to his 'dimly lit' hotel room and embraced her after a work event. She said she tried to pull away from Cuomo when he pulled her back and held her before she managed to escape the room. 

Karen Hinton, 62

Unnamed sixth accuser

The most damning allegations leveled against Cuomo to date came from a sixth accuser, whose name has not been released. 

The accuser, who is a member of Cuomo's staff, alleged that he closed a door, reached under her blouse and fondled her after summoning her to the governor's mansion in Albany for help with his cellphone, according to the Times Union of Albany. 

It first reported on her accusation last month; she then gave more detail in her first interview on the matter, published Wednesday. 

The woman spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her privacy, although her identity is known within the governor´s circle, the Times Union reported.

The woman, an executive assistant, told the Times Union the governor gave her kisses on the cheek and inappropriately tight hugs for years and made remarks including, 'If you were single, the things that I would do to you' and 'I'm single and ready to mingle.'

Then, one day in November, she was summoned to his Executive Mansion office to help him with a cellphone problem, she said. 

He got up from his desk, started groping her and told her 'I don't care' after she tried to deflect him by saying he was going to get them into trouble, and then he slammed the door, she said.

Then he reached under her blouse and clutched one of her breasts over her bra, she told the newspaper.

The woman told a colleague this winter about the alleged encounter, and the co-worker told a supervisor in early March, according to the newspaper.

Cuomo called the report 'gut-wrenching' in a March statement and said: 'I have never done anything like this.' 

Another female aide, who has remained anonymous, claimed he called her to his Executive Mansion last year, reached under her blouse and fondled her

Jessica Bakeman

Jessica Bakeman claimed in a first-person article for New York Magazine that she was sexually harassed by Cuomo on several occasions since the start of her journalism career in 2012.

Bakeman added her voice as the seventh accuser as she detailed inappropriate touching by the governor as he continued to deny all of the claims.

'He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go,' Bakeman wrote of an interaction with Cuomo as she said goodnight at a holiday party in 2014 when she was only 25 years old.

'He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture.'

At the time Bakeman had been working for what is now Politico New York and claimed that red flags went up as her 'job was to analyze and scrutinize him'.

'I didn't want a photo of him with his hands on my body and a smile on my face,' she wrote.

Jessica Bakeman, a reporter who once covered the Cuomo administration, was the seventh woman to come forward with claims of harassment

'But I made the reflexive assessment that most women and marginalized people know instinctively, the calculation about risk and power and self-preservation. I knew it would be far easier to smile for the brief moment it takes to snap a picture than to challenge one of the most powerful men in the country.'

In an earlier 2012 incident while she was working for USA Today, Bakeman also claims that Cuomo kept her pinned to his side as he told a story to her male colleagues.

'He left it there, and kept me pinned next to him, for several minutes as he finished telling his story,' she said. 'I stood there, my cheeks hot, giggling nervously as my male colleagues did the same. We all knew it was wrong, but we did nothing.'

The reporter, who now works in Florida, claimed that Cuomo 'never let me forget I was a woman' as she also alleged that he made frequent attempts to humiliate her, including calling out her purple phone instead of answering her question during a press gaggle.

Alyssa McGrath, 33

McGrath, a current administrative assistant in Cuomo's office, told The New York Times that he looked down her shirt, quizzed her about her marital status, and told her she was beautiful, using an Italian phrase she had to ask her parents to interpret.

McGrath didn't say the governor made sexual contact with her but thought his behavior was sexual harassment. 

She recalled Cuomo kissing her on the forehead and gripping her firmly around the sides while posing for a photo at a 2019 office Christmas party.

Alyssa McGrath (pictured) is one of two aides who have come forward to accuse the governor of harassment

Sherry Vill, 55 

Sherry Vill, 55, accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct during a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred on Monday. 

She alleges Cuomo grabbed her face and kissed her 'aggressively and in a sexual manner' on both cheeks in May 2017 while he was touring her home in Greece, near Rochester, as he inspected local flood damage.

Vill, who said she felt uncomfortable at the time, shared an image her daughter took on the day that showed Cuomo holding her face as he kissed her cheek and her attorney held up multiple photos showing the Governor inside her home. 

The same photos appear on Cuomo's Flickr account, as well as multiple others that show him kissing and greeting residents as he toured the town.

None of the women in the other photos have accused the governor of inappropriate behavior or wrongdoing.   

Sherry Vill, 55, accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct on Monday.  Vill, who said she felt uncomfortable at the time, shared an image her daughter took on the day that showed Cuomo holding her face as he kissed her cheek

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