An ex-aide of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has filed a civil lawsuit against the Democratic lawmaker for allegedly groping her in late 2020.
The complainant, Brittany Commisso, is suing Cuomo under the state's Adult Survivors Act for an incident that she described as "pervasive abusive conduct." The filing showed that she was accusing the lawmaker of "continuous sexual harassment" and retaliating against her after she refused his advances and reported his misconduct.
Andrew Cuomo Faces New Civil Lawsuit
Commisso's allegations against Cuomo are nothing new and the former New York governor has long denied all of the accusations. She initially filed a formal criminal complaint against the lawmakers in 2021 with the Albany County sheriff's office.
The office investigated and filed charges against Cuomo but prosecutors decided not to prosecute. They said that while they were "deeply troubled" about the incident and that Commisso was "cooperative and credible," they concluded that they could not meet their burden of proof at trial, as per the New York Times.
The court papers that Commisso filed on Tuesday were used to initiate a lawsuit and are expected to be followed by a complaint. The legal challenge comes a few days before the expiration of the state's Adult Survivors Act on Friday.
It gave people who said that they were sexually abused in New York a one-year window to sue their alleged attackers. This comes even if the statute of limitations had already expired beforehand.
A lawyer for Cuomo, Rita Glavin, released a statement on Friday saying that Commisso's claims are "provably false." She said that this was why the Albany district attorney dismissed the case two years ago following a thorough investigation.
Despite denying the allegations, Cuomo resigned in August 2021 following an inquiry by New York Attorney General Letitia James found that he had sexually harassed 11 women. Another former aide of Cuomo, Charlotte Bennett, sued the ex-governor for sexual harassment in September 2022, according to Yahoo News.
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Alleged Sexual Harassment
In a statement, Commisso said that it disgusts her how Cuomo is considering running for public office in the wake of New York City Mayor Eric Adam's alleged sexual harassment. She argued that the former governor has not taken responsibility or acknowledged what he did to her years ago.
Commisso is a divorced mother of one who initially joined Cuomo's team in 2017. On Mar. 8, 2021, former Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul demoted her and reassigned her to the "demeaning task of answering telephones in the Lieutenant Governor's office until moved to other offices."
The complainant said that she lost out on overtime pay, was given little to no work, and was even ostracized by her co-workers. The documents filed in court also allege that her career opportunities suffered.
The court papers also name the state and Cuomo's special counsel Judith Mogul for allegedly aiding and abetting Commisso's mistreatment and demotion. The situation comes as the suit that Bennett filed against the former New York governor is still pending. It accuses him of asking invasive questions about her sex life, said the New York Post.
