OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:20 PM – Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Former New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for NYC mayor was stripped of over $600,000 in public funds — after city finance regulators accused him of illegally coordinating with a super PAC.
Cuomo, the former New York governor and front-runner for the Democrat nomination in the NYC mayoral race, was accused of collaborating with his super PAC “Fix the City,” through a technique known as “redboxing.”
How Redboxing Works: Candidates or campaigns create public web pages or digital content that contain messages, images, or other hints intended for Super PACs or independent groups. These pages often use red boxes or other visual cues to highlight specific language, making it easy for outside groups to see how the campaign wants them to shape their ads or messaging.
It’s controversial due to its coordination aspect, as federal law prohibits direct coordination between campaigns and independent groups — but redboxing operates in a somewhat “gray area.” Many have also labeled the practice a devious “legal loophole.” Since the information is publicly available, campaigns argue that they are not directly coordinating, even though their intent is clear.
“Based on preliminary results of the board’s investigation, the board has reason to believe Fix the City’s $622,056 expenditure for an ad distributed on May 4, 2025, was not independent of the Cuomo campaign,” stated New York City Campaign Finance Board Member Richard Davis on Monday.
“The board’s investigation into this matter is ongoing, and we will continue to evaluate the issue of improper coordination,” he continued.
Prior to the board announcing its decision on Monday, they warned the campaign to take the messaging down on its website — which it did, shortly after.
“These statements serve no discernible purpose except to direct potential independent expenditure efforts,” wrote Senator Zellnor Myrie (D-N.Y.), one of Cuomo’s opponents, in a complaint.
“The Campaign Finance Board just confirmed what we’ve known all along: Andrew Cuomo is for sale,” he continued. “He’s spent decades bending laws, shutting down ethics investigations, and exploiting every loophole to serve himself — and now he’s doing it again, backed by a super PAC funded by billionaires and corporations who know Cuomo will serve the highest bidder.”
Despite the withholding of over $600,000 in funds, the board still approved around $1.5 million in matching funds to Cuomo’s campaign. The funds were withheld to match the amount that Fix The City spent on the suspected illegal advertising.
Additionally, Cuomo’s campaign spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, soon responded to the media buzz, arguing that the campaign is in “full compliance” with all finance rules and regulations.
“Our campaign has operated in full compliance with the campaign finance laws and rules, and everything on our website was reviewed and approved by our legal team in advance of publication,” he stated. “We look forward to making that clear when we respond to the Board’s preliminary ruling and receiving the full matching funds to which the campaign is entitled.”
“In the meantime our campaign’s momentum continues unabated: today we receive $1.5 million on top of the over $3.5 million we have raised in 71 days and are gratified to have the broadest coalition of supporters, and lead in every poll with voters in every borough, gender, race and ethnicity,” Azzopardi continued.
Bill Knapp, who creates the advertisements for Fix The City, also claimed that the super PAC is “fully independent” and works without any “insight or influence of any prohibited outside entities.”
“I have filmed, scripted, and produced ads released to date by Fix the City in support of Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral candidacy, and did so independently, using publicly available information about the candidate and his policy proposals,” he added.
Fix The City was reportedly able to raise over $7 million to amplify Cuomo’s messaging, with an additional $1 million contribution from DoorDash just this week. The super PAC has spent over $3 million on television ads alone.
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