Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed more than a dozen staffers, DOJ says

Andrew M. Cuomo provides a coronavirus update from the Red Room at the State Capitol in Albany, New York, on Jan. 4, 2021.

NEW YORK — A Justice Department probe found that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo subjected at least 13 female staffers to a “sexually hostile work environment” and that his senior staff knew about the conduct and sought to strike back against his accusers, according to a settlement agreement dated Friday.

The nine-page settlement, reached between Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, said the Justice Department inquiry determined that Cuomo ogled the women and subjected them to unwanted sexual comments and contact. Cuomo’s “senior staff were aware of his conduct and retaliated against four of the women,” the settlement said.

“Indeed, the Executive Chamber’s response was designed only to protect Cuomo from further accusations, rather than to protect employees from sexual harassment,” said the settlement.

Cuomo’s lawyer, Rita Glavin, said in a statement that Cuomo did not harass anyone, and that he was not conducted by the Justice Department in the inquiry. “This is nothing more than a political settlement with no investigation,” she said.

The settlement offers a new window into yet another inquiry that found evidence that Cuomo carried out rampant sexual harassment while serving as the 56th governor of New York. The disclosures also come as Cuomo, a 66-year-old Democrat, appears to be inching back into public life, and perhaps contemplating another run for public office.

The Justice Department inquiry was launched in August 2021— the month that state Attorney General Letitia James released a bombshell investigation that said Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women— and was completed by November 2022, according to the settlement. The probe was conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the settlement.

Cuomo resigned in disgrace in August 2021. He has consistently denied sexual harassment allegations against him, and has claimed to be vindicated by a lack of criminal charges stemming from probes by five New York district attorneys. Some of the prosecutors said they nonetheless found allegations against him credible.

His allies have described the findings of the inquiry as politically motivated, though a fall 2021 report released by the Democratic-controlled state Assembly found that the evidence of Cuomo’s sexual misconduct was “overwhelming.” A spokesman for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, has dismissed the Assembly report as a retread of the attorney general’s probe.

In her statement Friday, Glavin suggested the Justice Department inquiry, too, represented a recycling of the attorney general’s report, which she called “deeply flawed, inaccurate, biased, and misleading.”

The Justice Department said the settlement sets in stone policies that Hochul, Cuomo’s successor, has implemented since taking office. Further, it calls for additional reforms in the Executive Chamber such as expanding the chamber’s Human Resources Department, and the introduction of anti-retaliation and programs.

Hochul, who served as lieutenant governor under Cuomo but had a strained relationship with him, said in a statement that she knew when she replaced him that she needed to “root out the culture of harassment that had previously plagued the Executive Chamber.”

“I am pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has acknowledged the significance of those efforts, and look forward to partnering with them as we continue to build upon that success,” Hochul added.

Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said in a statement that he appreciates Hochul’s “stated determination to make sure that sexual harassment does not recur at the highest level of New York State government.”

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