Andrew Cuomo leaves Il Postino restaurant in Manhattan, New York City on Monday, December 19, 2022.
Gardiner Anderson | New York Daily News | Getty Images
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo subjected at least 13 women to a “sexually hostile work environment” during his time in office, the Justice Department said Friday as part of an agreement with the state’s current executive office.
Cuomo “repeatedly subjected these female employees to unwanted, non-consensual sexual contact, staring, unwelcome sexual comments, gender-specific nicknames, comments about their physical appearance, and/or preferential treatment based on their physical appearance,” the DOJ said.
The governor’s office under Cuomo knew about his behavior but failed to effectively stop it, the DOJ concluded from the investigation it launched in August 2021, the same month that Cuomo resigned amid mounting sexual harassment allegations.
Instead, Cuomo’s office sought to protect the then-governor from further allegations — and his senior aides responded by retaliating against four of the women he had harassed, the DOJ said.
Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin said in a statement to CNBC that the former governor “did not sexually harass anyone.”
“The DOJ ‘investigation’ was based solely on the New York Attorney General’s deeply flawed, inaccurate, biased and misleading report,” Glavin said.
That report, released on August 3, 2021, found that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women and retaliated against at least one former staffer who accused him.
“The DOJ has not contacted Governor Cuomo about this issue at any time,” Glavin said Friday. “This is nothing more than a political settlement without an investigation.”
The DOJ announced its findings as it announced an agreement to resolve its allegations that Cuomo’s office “engaged in a pattern or practice of sexual harassment and retaliation” in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The DOJ said the agreement with the New York State Executive Chamber, currently led by Gov. Kathy Hochul, recognizes the reforms she has already made and requires the office to make further changes.
The agreement also states that in “consideration” for the Executive Chamber’s approval of the agreement, the DOJ will refrain from filing a complaint regarding its allegations.
Hochul said in a statement that upon taking office she “took immediate action” to “eradicate the culture of harassment that had previously plagued the Executive Chamber and implement strict policies to promote a safe workplace for all employees.”
“I am pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has recognized the importance of these efforts and look forward to working with them as we continue to build on this success,” Hochul said.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told CNBC that the agreement does not contain a “determination on the merits.”
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In a separate statement, Azzopardi suggested that Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney who signed the agreement, had a conflict of interest because he was the law partner of Joon Kim, who led the New York attorney general’s investigation into Cuomo in 2021.
“This is not worth the paper it is printed on, and it is ironic that Gov. Hochul, who herself has been accused of retaliation, signed it,” Azzopardi said.
But Mariann Wang, a lawyer for Alyssa McGrath and Virginia Limmiatis, two women Cuomo allegedly harassed, celebrated the agreement.
“We are pleased that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Executive Chamber have taken serious steps to ensure that the abuses committed by Cuomo will not be repeated,” Wang said in a statement.
“We hope these measures will have a real impact and prevent the kind of repeated abuses of power that have caused so much harm to so many women,” Wang said.
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2024-01-26 21:32:38
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