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A former New York State employee has filed a criminal complaint against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, a spokesperson told ABC News.
This would be the first complaint filed against the troubled governor following Tuesday’s attorney general report which found he had violated federal and state laws by sexually harassing at least 11 women.
The woman who lodged the complaint is a former assistant governor who is identified as “No. 1 executive assistant” in Attorney General Letitia James’ report released on Tuesday.
“Since about the end of 2019, the governor has engaged in inappropriate conduct with Executive Assistant No.1,” the report said.
The conduct included intimate and intimate hugs, kissing, touching and grabbing her buttocks and suggestive remarks, investigators said. The report stated that Executive Assistant No.1 had what appeared to be the most serious allegation against Cuomo, accusing him of reaching under his shirt and stroking his chest in the Executive Mansion of Albany in November 2020.
Cuomo has denied all allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Cuomo’s attorney, Rita Glavin, said Tuesday in a response to the report that the governor “never groped Ms. X”, adding: “This claim is false, as the governor has repeatedly stated and without equivocal “.
The GA report stated that the Albany Police Department had been alerted to the alleged groping of Executive Assistant No.1.
Responding to Friday’s complaint, governor spokesman Richard Azzopardi said in a statement: “As we said previously, we proactively made a referral almost four months ago in accordance with state policies “.
Albany District Attorney David Soares told WAMC radio: “There is an official report that is now being filed with law enforcement,” adding: “I think the sheriff is doing what it’s supposed to do. He’s supposed to take the report.
Hours after the complaint was announced, Cuomo’s attorney Glavin told a press conference that the NY AG report omitted important facts.
“The investigation was conducted to substantiate a predetermined narrative,” Glavin said. “There has been no open-minded fact finding here.”
Glavin responded to the report’s Executive Assistant’s story, saying the timeline of events did not match the woman’s claims shared with the Albany Times-Union, which released her story in March.
“The documentary evidence does not support what she said,” Glavin said.
She was joined by two Executive Chamber attorneys, Paul Fishman and Mitra Hormozi, for the Zoom video conference on Friday.
Fishman condemned the attorney general for refusing to provide a pre-copy of the report so the governor could prepare rebuttal statements and asked the office to release transcripts of all interviews conducted as part of the investigation.
Both Glavin and Fishman took issue with the report’s finding that governor’s staff retaliated against accuser Lindsey Boylan after she made her allegations of sexual harassment.
“There is a very serious legal issue as to whether the attorney general’s office is right,” Fishman said.
Earlier this week, Boylan’s attorney said she intended to prosecute Cuomo for allegedly retaliating against her after she came forward.
“Our plan is to prosecute the governor and his co-conspirators,” Boylan’s lawyer Jill Basinger told ABC News “Good Morning America,” citing the retaliatory measures outlined in the report. AG.
The New York State Assembly impeachment inquiry into Cuomo “is nearing completion,” officials said Thursday, and the judicial committee will meet Monday morning to discuss the inquiry.
So far, at least five district attorney’s offices – Manhattan, Albany, Westchester County, Nassau County and Oswego County – have opened investigations into Cuomo for alleged incidents described in the report that took place in their jurisdictions.
“The governor certainly appears to be forming a role model that shows at a minimum a sense of entitlement and disregard for the well-being of others and the self-respect of many women,” said Gregory Oakes, district attorney for Oswego. ABC’s local branch in Rochester WHAM.
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