Feds check Cuomo
DOJ agrees: He harassed & retaliated
Federal prosecutors are backing the state attorney general’s findings that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed several women and created a hostile work environment in his office.
In a settlement agreement between the feds and Gov. Hochul’s office that was announced Friday, the Department of Justice slammed Cuomo for sexually harassing and later retaliating against former employees.
‘Hostile’
“Former Gov. Cuomo subjected at least 13 female employees of New York state, including Executive Chamber employees, to a sexually hostile work environment,” read the agreement, citing a joint investigation by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office.
“Gov. Cuomo repeatedly subjected these female employees to unwelcome, non-consensual sexual contact; ogling; unwelcome sexual comments; gender-based nicknames; comments on their physical appearances; and/or preferential treatment based on their physical appearances,” it said.
The settlement agreement was the result of federal investigation into Cuomo, which was carried out separately from probes initiated by state Attorney General Letitia James and the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
The federal investigation began in 2021 and focused on whether Cuomo and his office had violated labor and civil rights laws.
Though it carries no formal legal charges against Cuomo, the federal settlement drew the same conclusions as the 2021 report by special prosecutors hired by James that led to his resignation.
“The conduct in the Executive Chamber under the former governor, the state’s most powerful elected official, was especially egregious because of the stark power differential involved and the victims’ lack of avenues to report and redress harassment,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division wrote in a statement. Cuomo’s attorneys continue to deny the allegations and claim that the federal investigation was politically motivated.
“This is nothing more than a political settlement with no investigation,” Rita Glavin, an attorney for the former governor, wrote in a statement.
Spokesman Rich Azzopardi said Cuomo hadn’t been interviewed as part of the federal investigation. He also bashed Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace, who signed off on the settlement, claiming he’s biased because he used to work at the same firm as one of the prosecutors in the state AG’s investigation.
A spokesperson for James’ office shot back: “Andrew Cuomo can continue to deny the truth and attack these women, but the facts do not lie.”
Several of the accusers also touted the feds’ findings as another victory.
Not ‘political’
“The DOJ’s independent investigation and subsequent settlement agreement with the Executive Chamber eviscerates Mr. Cuomo’s repeated refrain that the Attorney General’s findings were politically motivated,” Debra Katz, an attorney for accuser and former aide Charlotte Bennett, said in a statement. “They obviously were not.”
The settlement lays out recommendations for restructuring the governor’s office to prevent retaliation against accusers, like investigators say occurred under Cuomo’s leadership.
It states Hochul has already implemented reforms — including removing Cuomo’s allies who helped facilitate his misconduct, creating an HR department within her office and instituting a workplace sexualharassment hotline.