Cuomo inquiries will continue
Multiple investigations underway; suits planned
ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is giving up the powerful job he’s dedicated most of his life to keeping within his family, but his resignation won’t end a bevy of pending investigations into him and his administration.
No fewer than five district attorneys have made preliminary inquiries into Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment detailed in the scathing, 165-page report last week from Attorney General Letitia James’ office that ultimately led to the governor’s announcement Tuesday that he will resign in two weeks.
That includes Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who is in the midst of a criminal investigation into claims by a Cuomo executive assistant who says the governor groped her breast at the Executive Mansion last year.
There’s also a pending investigation by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn who are looking into the Cuomo administration’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes and its withholding of certain death data at the height of the pandemic last year.
And that’s not all. James is still looking into whether Cuomo illegally used state resources to pen his book on the COVID-19 crisis, for which he is due to be paid $5.1 million. And the state Assembly’s impeachment inquiry continues, though its immediate future is no longer clear.
The investigations and litigation could enmesh Cuomo for months or years after his scheduled departure from public office in two weeks.
“The inquiry into criminal conduct in our jurisdiction remains open and pending,” Soares spokesperson Cecilia Walsh said Tuesday, just after Cuomo announced his pending resignation.
Following James’ report, Soares announced he was in the midst of an ongoing criminal investigation related to Cuomo. That investigation was bolstered Thursday by the filing of a criminal complaint by Brittany Commisso, the executive assistant who says Cuomo groped her.
The chief criminal prosecutors of New York, Nassau, Westchester and Oswego counties also asked James’ staff for investigative evidence of possible Cuomo crimes committed within their respective jurisdictions.
“Our investigation continues,” Brendan Brosh, the communications director for Nassau County Acting District Attorney Joyce A. Smith, said Tuesday. Smith last week issued a statement confirming that her office would review “the deeply disturbing findings” in the report.
Cuomo’s resignation “does not have any impact” on a similar investigation by Westchester District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah’s office, public information officer Anna Young said in an email on Tuesday.
Danny Frost, communications director for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., declined to comment on whether Cuomo’s departure from the public stage later this month would impact Vance’s investigation. Last week, Vance’s office confirmed contact with
James’ office “pertaining to incidents that occurred in Manhattan,” the locale for Cuomo’s downstate office.
Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes could not immediately be reached on Tuesday about the status of his Cuomo investigation. Last week, Syracuse.com reported that Oakes would request material from James’ office about allegations by Virginia Limmiatis, a Syracuse-area woman and energy company employee who told state investigators Cuomo groped her in 2017.
Separately, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York have subpoenaed material related to Cuomo’s recent memoir as part of an investigation of the state’s handling of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes on Cuomo’s watch, The Wall Street Journal reported in June. John Marzulli, a spokesman for Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, declined to comment Tuesday.
Cuomo also is expected to face a civil lawsuit to be filed by Lindsey Boylan, the first woman who publicly alleged that he had sexually harassed her.
Boylan, a former aide to the governor, claims Cuomo made inappropriate comments toward her, including one remark about playing strip poker during a flight on an official state aircraft. She also says Cuomo once kissed her on the lips in 2018 as she left a meeting in his New York City office.
Her claim, via Twitter, prompted others to come forward. It also led to attacks on Boylan’s credibility by Cuomo staffers and lawyers.
James’ report concluded Cuomo’s administration illegally retaliated against Boylan by leaking documents to the press not long after her Twitter posts. Those documents showed Boylan was counseled for a workplace conflict shortly before her departure from the administration.
Cuomo’s attorneys have denied the administration illegally retaliated against Boylan and have continued to attack her credibility, as well as the credibility of the report itself, which Cuomo claims is biased against him.
Jill Basinger, an attorney for Boylan, did not immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment on Tuesday.
However, Basinger told ABC News last week that Boylan intends to sue Cuomo and others in the administration.
“Our plan is to sue the governor and his co-conspirators,” Basinger said.
James, meanwhile, told reporters last week that her investigation into Cuomo’s book deal remains underway.
“The investigation with respect to the book and whether or not public resources were utilized is ongoing, and it’s separate and apart from this investigation,” she said Aug. 3.
Lawmakers had been moving toward impeaching the governor, but Cuomo’s resignation could change their plans.
The Assembly could still pursue an impeachment that could prevent Cuomo from running for state office again. Such an endeavor, however, would cost millions of dollars in taxpayer money, which Cuomo himself highlighted during his resignation speech.
“It will consume government,” Cuomo said of his potential impeachment. “It will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. It will brutalize people.”
Kevin McCoy is a staff writer for USA TODAY. Jon Campbell is the New York State Team editor for the USA TODAY Network.