Charlotte Bennett Sues Cuomo Over Sexual Harassment Accusations

ALBANY — A second federal lawsuit accusing former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of sexual harassment was filed Wednesday by Charlotte Bennett, a former aide who worked for the Executive Chamber for about 13 months beginning in 2019.

Bennett's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, also was filed against three former top staff members in Cuomo's administration: Melissa DeRosa, who was secretary to the governor; Jill DeRosiers, who had been his chief of staff; and Judith Mogul, a special counsel. The claim alleges they mishandled Bennett's case after she reported the former governor's alleged sexual harassment to DeRosiers, including reassigning her to an "inferior" position.

The lawsuit was filed as Cuomo has waged a fierce effort to cast doubt on the findings of an investigation by the state attorney general's office that concluded he had been a serial sexual harasser and acted inappropriately with at least 11 women, many of the former aides. That initiative has included filing formal complaints against officials involved in investigations of his behavior, including an ethics complaint filed this week against state Attorney General Letitia James and the investigators who authored the report that led to his resignation.

Cuomo has acknowledged making inappropriate remarks but has denied allegations that he groped the breast of a former aide or that he touched or kissed anyone in a manner that was improper. In Bennett's case, Cuomo had not denied making the remarks that prompted Bennett to inform her supervisors about his conduct, but has insisted she misunderstood the context of his words.

He insisted that he was a product of a bygone era and claimed he now understood that he needed to change how he treated women. Less than two weeks after Ms. Bennett made her allegations public, New York Attorney General Letitia James commenced an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Defendant Cuomo.

"He insisted that he was a product of a bygone era and claimed he now understood that he needed to change how he treated women," the lawsuit alleges. "Less than two weeks after Ms. Bennett made her allegations public, New York Attorney General Letitia James commenced an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against defendant Cuomo."

The lawsuit recounts allegations also reported by the attorney general's office that Cuomo had allegedly subjected Bennett to "sexualized comments" about her appearance and also "invasive and unwanted questions about her personal life, romantic and sexual relationships, and history as a survivor of sexual assault."

The complaint alleges the former governor also told her he was lonely, searching for a girlfriend in the Albany area and willing to date someone over the age of 21.

"At the time of that conversation, and as defendant Cuomo knew, Ms. Bennett was 25 years old and living with other Executive Chamber staffers in an Albany hotel," the lawsuit states.

Rita Glavin, Cuomo's attorney, issued a statement in response to the lawsuit recounting their concerns that Bennett, a graduate of Hamilton College, was highlighted in a federal lawsuit filed by a male former student who alleged she had conspired to falsely accused him of sexual assault and in order to have him expelled.

The ethics complaint filed by Cuomo this week included a section on Bennett that called attention to the allegations in that federal case and raised questions about why the state attorney general's office had not focused on them in their investigation.

"The (attorney general's) report should have considered in the analysis Ms. Bennett’s history of making sexual misconduct allegations," the complaint states. "A federal lawsuit filed on Oct. 30, 2017, by a male student, 'John Doe,' against Hamilton College alleged that Ms. Bennett made false sexual misconduct allegations against him, in coordination with three other female students, which resulted in the ban of John Doe from campus and graduation," the ethics complaint filed on Cuomo's behalf states.

Glavin contends Cuomo "has always said he didn’t harass anyone and with each day that goes by more and more information is uncovered showing how evidence favorable to the governor was suppressed and crucial facts ignored or omitted that undermined witness credibility. What else will come out during the discovery process?  We’ll see them in court."

Bennett's lawsuit assert that weeks after she went public with her allegations in the New York Times, "she weathered retaliatory public criticism from the then-governor, himself, who used his media platform to portray her as a liar and sought to undermine her credibility as a complainant in the attorney general’s investigation."

In February, a female State Police investigator who said Cuomo sexually harassed and inappropriately touched her, including kissing her on the cheek more than once, also filed a federal lawsuit against Cuomo, as well as DeRosa and the State Police.

That lawsuit, which also seeks unspecified damages, lists allegations against Cuomo and his administration that also largely mirror those outlined in the searing report issued by the state attorney general’s office13 months ago that concluded the former governor was a serial sexual harasser who cultivated a toxic work environment.

Cuomo, who announced his resignation a week after Attorney General Letitia James issued her office’s report, has increasingly challenged the accounts of his 11 accusers and said that he should have stayed in office and cleared his name.

“If kissing someone on the cheek, patting someone on the back or stomach or waving hello at a public event on New Year’s Eve is actionable then we are all in trouble,” said Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi had said in February in response to the investigator's lawsuit. "Gov. Cuomo will fight every attempt at cheap cash extortions and is anxious to have the dirty politics stop — we look forward to justice in a court of law."

Those comments by Azzopardi — implying the lawsuit was a form of extortion — resulted in him being added as a defendant in that case.

Paul Schectman, an attorney for DeRosa, had cased the investigator's claims against his client as "not a viable case" and "beyond frivolous."

The accusations by the trooper were among the most damaging leveled against Cuomo, who had urged a senior investigator on his protective detail to offer the now-31-year-old female investigator a job on the special unit that protects the governor, according to the attorney general’s report.

Last year the female trooper had moved up in the ranks of Cuomo's protective detail quickly, securing a position as the governor’s driver in a much shorter timeframe than is normal, according to former senior members of the detail who are familiar with its machinations.

The report issued by the attorney general’s office confirmed Cuomo had asked for the female investigator — then a uniformed trooper — to be offered the spot on his protective detail in 2017, after he met her at an event at the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in New York City.

The trooper, who is from Long Island, did not meet the minimum qualifications to get a spot on the detail because she had been with the State Police for less than three years.

The attorney general’s report said the trooper had described Cuomo as “creepy” and “flirtatious.”