‘Spy’ secretly taped governor’s accuser

Andrew Cuomo’s top aide pulled a downright dirty — and possibly illegal — trick to try and impugn one of the then-governor’s sexual harassment accusers, The Post has learned.

Cuomo’s right-hand, Melissa DeRosa, recruited a top MTA official as a spy to secretly record a phone conversation with an ex-staffer identified as “Kaitlin” who subsequently became one of the governor’s accusers.

The ploy is revealed in transcripts of state Attorney General Letitia James’ probe of Cuomo and confirmed by sources to The Post.

What potentially puts the ethically dubious ploy on thin legal ice is that Kaitlin was in California during the call — and under California law, both sides of a conversation need to give their consent before it’s recorded.

“This secret recording is shocking and we do believe it was illegal,” Kaitlin’s lawyer, Zoe Salzman, told The Post.

DeRosa asked Abby Collins, whom she had helped install as MTA communications director and who previously shared an office with Kaitlin in the administration, to reach out to her and secretly record their conversation in a bid to find out if she was aligned with Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to publicly air sexual harassment complaints against Cuomo. Kaitlin, employed in another state agency at the time, had tweeted in support of Boylan.

In the secretly recorded call, Collins, as instructed, tried to goad Kaitlin, saying the governor’s office was a tough place in which to work but that she had “never seen anything like sexual harassment.” Kaitlin didn’t respond. Collins, at DeRosa’s suggestion, also lied to Kaitlin, saying reporters had reached out to her and others in Cuomo’s orbit about her tweets. That wasn’t the case, both DeRosa and Collins later admitted.

During her interview with the AG’s investigators, Kaitlin said she played “dumb” during her chat with Collins and was also dubious of her intent as she’d discovered other Cuomo deputies had been monitoring her LinkedIn page.

“But how would they find my account? Like I – nobody followed me. You know? I didn’t tag anybody,” Kaitlin told Collins, identified as “employee #6” in the transcripts. Sources close to the investigation confirmed to The Post that Collins is employee #6.

Kaitlin told investigators that she smelled a rat, that Collins was spying for team Cuomo.

“Because she was part of that inner circle and I didn’t trust [staffer #6],” Kaitlin said.

DeRosa admitted to installing Collins in her MTA post before she asked her to spy on Kaitlin. She said Collins did not object.

Afterwards, Collins told investigators, she regretted secretly recording a former colleague for DeRosa.

DeRosa said she was troubled by Kaitlin’s tweet in support of Boylan that said, “Keep talking, Lindsey. Men like him should not be in positions of power.”

James’ Cuomo probers pressed both DeRosa and Collins on whether the secret recording was legal and DeRosa said she got the OK from Alphonso David, a former Cuomo legal counsel.