About the Attorney General

Andrew Cuomo was elected the 64th Attorney General of New York State on November 7, 2006. As Attorney General, Cuomo is the highest ranking law enforcement officer for the State, responsible for representing New York and its residents in legal matters.

Cuomo has established key priorities for the Attorney General’s office: social justice, economic justice, racial justice, the environment, and public integrity. He has delivered on each of these issues, bringing numerous social, economic, environmental and public integrity cases, as well as instigating a dramatic and historic expansion of the Civil Rights bureau within the Attorney General’s office. In addition, the Attorney General launched Project Sunlight, a website designed to maintain government accountability and uphold public integrity.

In his first year as Attorney General, Cuomo has focused on using individual cases collectively to identify larger systemic problems within entire industries and then develop solutions that directly affect people’s lives. The numerous industry-wide investigations conducted by the Attorney General have included exposing corrupt practices within the student loan, mortgage, and healthcare industries.

Throughout 2007, Attorney General Cuomo revealed a systemic pattern of deceitful and corrupt practices within the student lending industry, compromising millions of students throughout the country who rely on loans to pay for college. As a result of this investigation, over $3 million was refunded to students and $13.7 million was allocated by lenders to the National Education Fund established by Attorney General Cuomo and dedicated to educating students and their families about how to navigate the lending industry.

Cuomo also created a student lending Code of Conduct which eventually became New York State law as the Student Lending Accountability, Transparency, and Enforcement (SLATE) Act of 2007. Proposed federal legislation regarding the student loan industry also incorporates Cuomo’s original Code of Conduct and has currently been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

In 2007, Cuomo also announced an investigation into widespread appraisal fraud within the mortgage industry, examining practices used by some of the country’s largest banks of pressuring appraisers to artificially inflate the value of homes. As a result of these investigations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest purchasers of home loans, agreed to abide by new appraisal guidelines defined by the Attorney General and to fund an Independent Valuation Protection Institute to implement and monitor those guidelines.

Throughout the past year, Cuomo has taken aggressive action to protect the environment. In October of 2007, Cuomo led a coalition of states that reached a $4.6 billion settlement with American Electric Power (AEP), requiring the company to upgrade its power plants, dramatically cutting its emissions. This settlement was the single greatest reduction of air pollution from a Clean Air Act enforcement action. In addition, Cuomo has called for the shut down of the Westchester based Indian Point nuclear power plant for being dangerously deficient in its facilities and posing a serious threat to New York City. Cuomo has also repeatedly sued the Environmental Protection Agency for being negligent in its responsibilities to enforce the Clean Air Act and regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars and other vehicles.

During Cuomo’s first year in office he also conducted an investigation into doctor rankings, an emerging practice within the health insurance industry of rating doctors. Addressing concerns that early ranking systems were inaccurate, potentially deceiving consumers and completely lacking oversight, Cuomo brought together leading physician and consumer groups, including the American Medical Association and the Consumers Union to solve the problem. Working together they established a Doctor Ranking model code based on accuracy, transparency and oversight, which was quickly adopted by the nation’s largest insurers and is currently being drafted into New York State Legislation.

Early in 2008, Cuomo also announced an industry-wide investigation into a scheme by health insurers to defraud consumers by manipulating reimbursement rates. The investigation identified that Ingenix, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of healthcare billing information, was serving as a conduit for rigged data to the largest insurers in the country. Currently, some of the largest health insurers in the country have been subpoenaed on this matter including United Healthcare, Wellpoint and Aetna.

Public integrity and enhancing transparency in New York State government has been a central priority for the Attorney General. In December 2007, Cuomo created Project Sunlight, a website that allows real-time tracking of seven state databases and the links between them. It gives easy access to information on campaign financing, lobbying, agency contracts, member items, legislation and both for-profit and not-for-profit corporations registered in New York. By increasing access to and awareness of State information, Project Sunlight ultimately increased government accountability to the citizens of New York State.

Before he was elected New York Attorney General, Cuomo served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Clinton. Under his leadership, HUD was transformed from a bureaucratic backwater rife with waste to a revitalized engine for housing development. Besides reducing waste, Cuomo also focused on fighting racial discrimination and gun violence. He brought 2,000 anti-discrimination cases and forced gun manufacturers to alter their marketing techniques. For these accomplishments, HUD received the prestigious "Innovations in American Government Award" from the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, on three separate occasions.

Cuomo graduated from Fordham University in 1979 and Albany Law School in 1982. He is the father of three daughters, Mariah, Cara, and Michaela.