FEDS ARE IN ON CUO PROBE
Eyeing ‘sex harass’ & COV handling
The feds have joined state and legislative authorities in probing the sexual-harassment claims against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo that forced him from office, The Post has learned.
The stunning development of a separate Department of Justice investigation is contained in a legal-services contract signed in October and released by the state Comptroller’s Office on Thursday in response to a Freedom of Information Law request filed by The Post.
The contract references previously revealed DOJ investigations into the Cuomo administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, its coverup of nursing-home deaths and Cuomo’s $5.1 million coronavirus memoir.
But it adds, “DOJ has also undertaken an inquiry related to sexual harassment claims made against the then Governor.”
The probe is focused on possible violations of federal civil-rights and labor laws, sources told The Post.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Hochul said her administration had “retained counsel to handle matters relating to ongoing investigations inherited from the previous administration.”
Hochul press secretary Hazel
Crampton-Hays added that officials “received an inquiry relating to an investigation being conducted by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York,” but declined to elaborate.
Both the DOJ and the EDNY US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn declined to comment.
The pandemic and memoir-related matters are being investigated as potential criminal matters by Brooklyn federal prosecutors and the FBI, sources have said.
Cuomo’s spokesman said the latest probe was launched after state Attor
ney General Letitia James — who’s now running for governor — issued the bombshell report that led Cuomo to resign under threat of impeachment.
“Our understanding is that the Civil Division opened an inquiry in August based upon the AG’s politically motivated sham report and we have heard nothing since,” spokesman Rich Azzopardi said.
James’ report accused Cuomo of sexually harassing 11 women, including nine current or former state employees, during his nearly three terms in office.
James also alleged that Cuomo and his aides “violated multiple state and federal laws, as well as the Executive Chamber’s own written policies.” Cuomo has denied wrongdoing. The contract made public on Thursday covers up to $2.5 million in payments to the white-shoe law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher for legal services to Hochul’s office in connection with the DOJ probes, James’ investigation and the recently concluded impeachment investigation by the state Assembly Judiciary Committee.
It made Willkie Farr the seventh law firm to be hired by state officials since Cuomo became mired in scandal earlier this year. The amount authorized to date is nearly $23 million in taxpayer money, according to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.