LAST-SEC CUO SUIT
Ex-aide claims sexual assault
Disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being sued for sexual assault by his former executive assistant Brittany Commisso, according to a legal summons filed just before the deadline for the Adult Survivors Act, The Post learned Friday.
Commisso alleges that while she worked in the Executive Chamber as an executive assistant from 2019 through August 2021 her ex-boss subjected her to “humiliating and demeaning tasks, hugs, kisses, sexual touching of the buttocks and forcible touching of the breast.”
“It disgusts me that Andrew Cuomo is even considering running for public office in the wake of Mayor Adams’ alleged sexual harassment when he himself will not accept responsibility or even acknowledge his sexual harassment of me, aside from numerous other victims, while the governor of our state,” she told The Post.
She referred to a Page Six report that the disgraced governor is “considering his options” and could be eyeing a run for mayor after Adams was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1993 in a suit also filed before the Adult Survivors Act deadline.
Working in Albany
Commisso, a divorced mom of one, joined the then-governor’s team in 2017 and previously accused Cuomo, 65, of groping her inside the Executive Mansion — an allegation that led to a misdemeanor criminal complaint being filed against the former governor.
She said Cuomo began a campaign of retaliation against her starting on Dec. 7, 2020, the day she rejected his attempt “to engage in sexual acts,” the summons filed in Albany Supreme Court on Wednesday alleges.
And after she reported Cuomo’s alleged conduct on March 8, 2021, then-Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, “demoted her,” resassigning her to “the demeaning task of answering telephones in the lieutenant governor’s office until moved to other offices,” the court filing claims.
Commisso lost out on overtime pay, was “given little or no work” and was ostracized from her coworkers. And her career opportunities suffered, the documents alleges. The state and Cuomo’s special counsel Judith Mogul are also named for aiding and abetting Commisso’s mistreatment and demotion, the court papers say.
Beating deadline
Commisso’s summons was filed just a day before the New York Adult Survivors Act window closed at the end of Thanksgiving day. The window suspended the statute of limitations for one year, allowing victims of abuse to bring a lawsuit regardless of how old their claims are.
The criminal sexual-assault case was dropped by the Albany County district attorney in 2022.
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 following a slew of misconduct allegations including from a female state trooper who claimed he inappropriately touched her. She eventually filed suit in Brooklyn federal court, where that case is pending.
In March, former Cuomo assistant Charlotte Bennett filed suit, echoing her claims from a prior federal case that Cuomo once joked about getting investigated for sexual harassment over an incident involving her. The suit, which is still pending, also accused him of asking invasive questions about her sex life and telling her he was “lonely” and was willing to date someone over 21.
The Democratic pol also was accused of covering up the true numbers of nursing-home deaths during the pandemic. Cuomo has denied these claims.
Cuomo lawyer Rita Glavin blasted Commisso’s suit as a money grab.
“Ms. Commisso’s claims are provably false, which is why the Albany district attorney dismissed the case two years ago after a thorough investigation,” Glavin said. “Ms. Commisso’s transparent attempt at a cash grab will fail.”