A New York decide tore into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday for utilizing hundreds of thousands in taxpayer money to defend himself in opposition to sexual harassment allegations — because the now-mayoral candidate tries to launder his tarnished public picture.
The scorching slapdown got here as Albany Supreme Court docket Justice Denise Hartman formally dismissed a lawsuit by Cuomo’s one-time govt assistant Brittany Commisso in opposition to the state, which settled the case for $450,000 final month.
“Cuomo has not superior any viable argument for why the taxpayers of this state ought to proceed to foot the invoice for his continued use of civil litigation discovery units to additional his efforts to resurrect his public picture,” Hartman wrote.
Cuomo was a separate get together within the case and fought to maintain it from being dismissed.
Hartman rubberstamped the case’s finish, however not with out excoriating Cuomo for burning by means of New Yorkers’ cash to fund his aggressive authorized protection.
Taxpayers have shelled out at the very least $20 million as Cuomo fights the sexual harassment circumstances, in keeping with state comptroller’s workplace knowledge — and drew queasy condemnations for his belligerent authorized protection, which included searching for one accuser’s gynecological data.
The taxpayer outlay for Cuomo’s authorized payments general is roughly $60 million, together with probes into the then-gov’s dealing with of the COVID pandemic, his notorious $5 million pandemic ebook deal and different charges associated to defending state businesses.
Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid the flurry of sexual harassment accusations that have been bolstered by a damning investigation by state Legal professional Common Letitia James. The three-term Democrat has vigorously denied the accusations and contends James’ probe was a political hit job.
After Commisso and several other different ladies sued Cuomo, he had the state choose up the tab for his authorized protection as a result of he had served as governor when the accusations unfolded.
Commisso’s case alone has value taxpayers at the very least $724,000, the comptroller’s workplace knowledge exhibits.
Cuomo had tried to persuade the decide to launch a few of Commisso’s textual content messages that he claimed would forged doubt on her accusations — which included that he groped her contained in the Govt Mansion.
Hartman, nevertheless, was unmoved by Cuomo searching for “public vindication” forward of New York Metropolis’s November mayoral election, wherein he’s operating as an unbiased after a humiliating loss to Zohran Mamdani within the Democratic main.
“As Cuomo’s argument goes, due to his current political aspirations, these textual content messages should be unsealed in order that there could also be a verdict within the courtroom of public opinion in regards to the propriety of plaintiff’s claims on this motion,” the decide wrote.
“Cuomo’s need to ‘out’ plaintiff’s textual content messages within the hopes of acquiring public vindication heading into the 2025 New York Metropolis Mayoral normal election doesn’t set up prejudice that will justify denial of plaintiff’s movement.”
The governor can nonetheless search textual content messages in an ongoing case from a state trooper who claimed he inappropriately touched her.
Cuomo’s dogged spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi continued to assert that Commisso’s unseen texts “obliterated” her claims.
“She is determined to maintain the texts from public scrutiny, which why she immediately settled her case for a fraction of her preliminary multimillion greenback demand quickly after she was pressured to provide them in her meritless lawsuit,” he stated. “It is usually why she has resisted turning this materials over within the Trooper case. The general public paid for the invention that lastly led to this proof and so they need to know the reality. Governor Cuomo will proceed to battle for the discharge of all of the proof as a result of it exhibits he didn’t sexually harass anybody and additional discredits the AG’s political report.”
Hartman, in her ruling, forged doubt on the Cuomo camp’s declare that Commisso by some means accepted a lowball settlement supply.
“The $450,000 settlement plaintiff accepted from the State right here is the exact quantity accepted by one other former Govt Chamber assistant from the State to settle her personal sexual harassment case in opposition to Cuomo in April of this 12 months,” Hartman wrote, referring to accuser Charlotte Bennett.
“Cuomo’s current arguments don’t even acknowledge that prior settlement.”
— Extra reporting by Peter Senzamici
