A former aide accusing ex-gov Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment has determined to drop her federal lawsuit, simply days earlier than she was resulting from give a marathon deposition.
Charlotte Bennett introduced that she had voluntarily withdrawn her lawsuit towards Cuomo late Monday and claimed the previous govt had used “limitless” taxpayer funds meant for his protection to assault her to the purpose that she felt she’d be “higher off lifeless than endure extra of his litigation abuse.”
“Andrew Cuomo goes to assert this as some form of victory, which ought to be seen, in fact, as pathetic,” stated Erica Vladimer, co founding father of the Sexual Harassment Working Group. “As a substitute, New Yorkers will see him for what he’s: an abusive, empty pit of a person who wasted $25 million of taxpayer cash to cowl up his personal errors.”
Simply days in the past, The Publish reported that Cuomo had sought a gag order to stop Bennett’s from publicly discussing the $28 million in taxpayer funds paid out to defend him and others associated to his instances, moneythat the previous governor is legally entitled to.
Cuomo’s legal professionals hailed the withdrawal, and known as Bennett’s accusations “baseless.”
“Ms. Bennett’s resolution to drop her baseless lawsuit ought to be seen as a whole capitulation and a determined try and keep away from being confronted with the mountains of exculpatory discovery– together with contemporaneous texts and movies that the AG’s workplace by no means obtained– that utterly refute her claims towards Governor Cuomo,” stated Cuomo legal professionals Rita Glavin and Theresa Trzaskoma in a press release.
“If New York State does give in to her public stress marketing campaign and settles,” the attorneys added, “it won’t be on the deserves and will require the general public launch of all of the proof in order that New Yorkers lastly know the reality: Governor Cuomo by no means sexually harassed anybody.”
Again in Febuary 2021, Bennett, then 25, was the second lady to publically accuse the previous gov of sexual harassment, claiming that Cuomo would ask invasive sexual questions — together with if she had a penchant for intimacy with older males.
She filed her federal grievance in September 2022 and included allegations that Cuomo “subjected her to sexualized feedback about her look, assigned her humiliating and demeaning duties, and starting in early June 2020, subjected her to invasive and undesirable questions on her private life, romantic and sexual relationships, and historical past as a survivor of sexual assault.”
“He advised her he was ‘lonely,’” needed a girlfriend who lived in Albany, and was prepared thus far somebody over the age of 21 years outdated,” the swimsuit claimed.
Bennett had stood out as some of the vocal accusers towards Cuomo, some extent his supporters had been fast to spotlight.
“After falsely smearing Governor Cuomo for years, Ms. Bennett instantly withdrew her federal lawsuit on the eve of her deposition to keep away from having to confess beneath oath that her allegations had been false and her claims had no advantage,” Cuomo’s attorneys stated.
On Monday, Vladimir moreover known as for state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to “audit Cuomo’s unreasonable use of public {dollars},” echoing her claims that public cash allows “state-sanctioned harassment” of Cuomo’s accusors.
“New York State can’t declare to help survivors when it totally allows the form of ‘lawfare’ Cuomo is waging towards his victims,” Vladimir stated.
