New York taxpayers will shell out almost $500,000 to a different accuser of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo after she settled her lawsuit towards the state Friday — along with her legal professionals calling the deal “a whole vindication of her claims.”
Brittany Commisso — Cuomo’s government assistant from 2019 by means of 2021 — penned an settlement with the state for $450,000, the identical determine that fellow Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett settled her claims for in April.
Commisso will personally get $225,000, whereas her authorized workforce will obtain the opposite $225,000, settlement papers obtained by The Publish reveal.
The divorced mother of 1 filed go well with towards the state and Cuomo in November 2023, claiming sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination.
She alleged that Cuomo subjected her to “humiliating and demeaning duties, hugs, kisses, sexual touching of the buttocks and forcible touching of the breast.”
Commisso, who began working for the then-governor in 2017, claimed in her lawsuit that he as soon as groped her inside the chief mansion.
The accusation led to a felony case which was finally dropped by the Albany County district lawyer in 2022.
She additionally stated that because of reporting the alleged sexual assault, then-Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul demoted and reassigned her to reply telephones, the go well with states.
Commisso additionally allegedly misplaced additional time pay, was “given little or no work” and was ostracized from her co-workers, impacting her profession. She claimed different state staffers aided and abetted her alleged mistreatment and demotion.
Her authorized workforce hailed the settlement as “a whole vindication of her claims, simply because the repeated findings made by the Legal professional Basic, the State Meeting and the US Division of Justice have been.”
“These three unbiased investigations all discovered that Cuomo subjected Ms. Commisso to undesirable sexual harassment and groping when she labored for him as an assistant,” her legal professionals, Mariann Wang and Kevin Mintzer, stated in an announcement.
“Ms. Commisso is proud to have reported the reality and vindicated her rights in courtroom, and likewise glad to have the ability to transfer ahead along with her life.”
Attorneys for Cuomo, who has denied the allegations, ripped Commisso’s assertion, saying the deal struck with the state was “not a vindication,” however “a capitulation to keep away from the reality” — regardless of the ex-gov. signing onto the settlement, courtroom papers present.
Nonetheless, Cuomo’s authorized workforce claimed they opposed the go well with ending earlier than the “reality” may come out, whereas declaring that the settlement quantity was far lower than the thousands and thousands Commisso initially sought.
“This nuisance settlement, which expressly doesn’t embrace any admission of legal responsibility, is meant to finish Ms. Commisso’s failed efforts to leverage a meritless lawsuit right into a multimillion greenback payday whereas hiding the reality from the general public,” Cuomo’s legal professionals, Rita Gavin and Theresa Trzaskoma, stated in an announcement.
The legal professionals additionally famous the settlement didn’t include any admission of wrongdoing by Cuomo, and highlighted the felony case towards him was dropped.
Gov. Hochul’s communications director, Anthony Hogrebe, stated the state was “happy to have settled this matter in a means that permits us to reduce additional prices to taxpayers.”
Accuser Charlotte Bennett settled for a similar quantity in April, however solely personally obtained $100,000 whereas the rest went to her legal professionals.
Bennett claimed Cuomo sexually harassed her when she was his assistant after which accused her of mendacity when she got here ahead along with her claims.
Bennett, now 29, was the second girl after former gubernatorial aide Lindsey Boylan, to publicly accuse the thrice-elected Democrat of sexual harassment in 2021, prompting his resignation that yr within the face of scandal.
Cuomo — who’s trying a political comeback by working for New York Metropolis mayor as an unbiased — has vehemently maintained his innocence within the rash of sexual harassment and assault accusations, together with from a state trooper who claimed he inappropriately touched her. Her case remains to be pending.
