[ad_1]
Greater than two months after his abrupt fall from energy, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is now going through a felony grievance alleging he groped a former govt assistant in late 2020.
Cuomo, who resigned from workplace in August amid a slew of misconduct allegations, was charged on Thursday by the Albany County Sheriff’s Workplace with forcible touching, a misdemeanor cost that carries a penalty of as much as a 12 months in jail.
Former Cuomo aide Brittany Commisso has accused Cuomo of groping her whereas she was working with him on the Government Mansion in Albany, and she or he filed police report in August, shortly after the discharge of a damning report by New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James investigating misconduct claims in opposition to Cuomo.
The report discovered that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 ladies, together with Commisso — however Commisso’s allegations are the primary to lead to felony costs.
In accordance with the New York Instances, the forcible touching cost introduced in opposition to Cuomo is commonly utilized in circumstances the place it’s troublesome to show that the assailant was appearing purely for their very own sexual gratification. The charging paperwork allege that Cuomo groped Commisso “for the needs of degrading and gratifying his sexual wishes.”
Cuomo is about to look in Albany Metropolis Court docket on November 17 to be arraigned.
The misdemeanor cost comes after an unbiased report commissioned by James’s workplace was launched in August, detailing a number of allegations of sexual harassment by Cuomo and a hostile work atmosphere through which dissent was not tolerated and talking up about alleged abuse might lead to retaliation.
Cuomo has denied the allegations in opposition to him and provided various justifications, together with that what he thought of pleasant actions have been merely out of step with the political second. His lawyer, Rita Glavin, mentioned in a press release on Friday that Cuomo by no means assaulted anybody and claimed that the Albany County sheriff, Craig Apple, had acted with political intent.
Confusion over the timing of the grievance gave Glavin some gasoline; based on Apple, his workplace filed the grievance on Thursday morning, not anticipating that it might lead to a summons being issued the identical day.
Consequently, the grievance turned public on Thursday earlier than Apple might notify Albany County District Lawyer David Soares, who didn’t know in regards to the grievance till it was leaked to New York Focus.
Soares mentioned in a press release that he was “stunned to study right this moment {that a} felony grievance was filed in Albany Metropolis Court docket by the Albany County Sheriff’s Workplace in opposition to Andrew Cuomo.” Soares’s workplace has been pursuing its personal investigation into the sexual harassment allegations in opposition to Cuomo.
In accordance with the Albany Instances-Union, a summons wasn’t anticipated till subsequent week, after the sheriff’s workplace had conferred with Soares and Commisso about shifting ahead with the case. Commisso’s lawyer, Brian Premo, mentioned that she too “was stunned by the flip of occasions however she has been and can stay a resolute cooperating sufferer in pursuit of blind justice.”
Apple instructed the Wall Avenue Journal that his workplace routinely information such paperwork with out consulting with prosecutors first, and a spokesperson for the New York state courtroom system, Lucian Chalfen, defended Albany Metropolis Court docket Choose Holly Trexler, saying she “dealt with the submitting of the misdemeanor grievance correctly.”
Cuomo has repeatedly been accused of harassment and misconduct
Along with allegations in opposition to Cuomo by Commisso and 10 different ladies, the August report painted an alarming image of pervasive sexual harassment and retaliation by Cuomo and his aides.
It detailed accusations starting from Cuomo asking for assist discovering a girlfriend and saying that he, in his early 60s, would date a girl as younger as 22, to undesirable bodily contact, like the sort Commisso described when she got here ahead publicly in August.
The report was successfully the ultimate straw for an already-embattled Cuomo, who was by August going through a number of distinct scandals, together with allegations that his administration had intentionally lined up the variety of nursing house residents who died of Covid-19 in the course of the pandemic. His public help plummeted, and high aide Melissa DeRosa resigned after the lawyer basic’s report confirmed that she had participated in retaliation in opposition to not less than one accuser.
Sexual harassment allegations in opposition to Cuomo started surfacing final 12 months after former aide Lindsay Boylan accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her “for years” and of retaliating in opposition to her by releasing confidential personnel information; further accusations earlier this 12 months added momentum to requires Cuomo to resign.
In the end, Cuomo, going through an accelerating impeachment push backed by state Meeting Speaker Carl Heastie and the chamber’s Democratic majority, introduced he was stepping down only one week after the lawyer basic’s report was launched on August 3.
Regardless of Cuomo’s resignation, Heastie mentioned in August that the Meeting would proceed investigating each the sexual harassment accusations and allegations that the Cuomo administration had intentionally lied in regards to the variety of nursing house deaths within the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thursday’s felony grievance is simply the newest growth in Cuomo’s speedy downfall, and it underscores that the allegations that ended his governorship might nonetheless change into actionable claims, with actual authorized enamel.
Cuomo nonetheless claims he’s the sufferer of a political witch hunt
As with earlier sexual misconduct allegations, Cuomo’s lawyer, Glavin, has argued that the allegations in Thursday’s felony grievance are false and politically motivated.
“Governor Cuomo has by no means assaulted anybody, and Sheriff Apple’s motives right here are obviously improper. Sheriff Apple didn’t even inform the district lawyer what he was doing,” Glavin mentioned in a press release. “This isn’t skilled legislation enforcement; that is politics.”
Particularly, Cuomo’s group has seized on the preliminary confusion surrounding the charging announcement, which coincided intently with the announcement of James’s gubernatorial marketing campaign, as proof of political maneuvering on her half and an “abuse of energy” by Apple in his “rouge [sic] investigation.”
James introduced her gubernatorial marketing campaign on Friday, simply in the future after the felony grievance in opposition to Cuomo was filed. She’s going to problem sitting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the previous lieutenant governor who took over from Cuomo following his resignation, within the Democratic major, and different candidates could leap into the Democratic race as effectively.
James and Cuomo had beforehand been allies; he endorsed her throughout her profitable 2018 run for lawyer basic. Extra not too long ago, nonetheless, Cuomo and his group have begun to spin James’s probe into the sexual harassment allegations in opposition to Cuomo as an abuse of energy in pursuit of the governor’s mansion.
Cuomo has tweeted repeatedly within the days for the reason that grievance was made public, with statements by Glavin and Cuomo spokesman Wealthy Azzopardi each claiming there is no such thing as a proof to help the felony costs.
However a number of district lawyer’s places of work in New York, in addition to state Meeting, have been gathering proof in opposition to Cuomo, and Apple has repeatedly mentioned that the mistimed submitting of the grievance doesn’t have any bearing on the seriousness of the costs or the power of the case. Apple additionally revealed that he and his group had performed witness interviews and reviewed copious paperwork associated to the case.
“The case is a strong case, our sufferer is cooperative, and we’re shifting ahead,” Apple mentioned.
[ad_2]