The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that it had found evidence that former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo had sexually harassed 13 women during his time in the state’s highest office.
Cuomo resigned in 2021 after Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York released a report that alleged the governor had a history of repeated sexual harassment, which Cuomo has denied. In the department’s report, it found that 13 women had been subjected to harassment by Cuomo, two more than James’ investigation found, and that Cuomo’s staff enabled the behavior while also punishing several women who came forward.
“The department’s investigation, conducted jointly by the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, found that the Executive Chamber under former Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (1) subjected female employees to a sexually hostile work environment; (2) tolerated that environment and failed to correct the problem on an agency-wide basis and (3) retaliated against employees who spoke out about the harassment,” the department’s press release reads.
Cuomo “ogled, [made] unwelcome sexual comments, gender-based nicknames; comments on their physical appearances; and/or preferential treatment based on their physical appearances” with multiple female employees, according to the report. The DOJ found that senior staff was aware of complaints by at least four of the women and “failed to effectively remediate the harassment on a systemic level.”
Rita Glavin, Cuomo’s attorney, complained that Cuomo had not been contacted by the department to defend himself, according to The New York Times.
“Did D.O.J. serve a single subpoena?” Glavin said. “Did they put anyone under oath? Who are these ‘new’ nameless people and what did they actually say? D.O.J. refuses to show the evidence, just like the A.G.”
The report also included several reforms put in place by the executive office of New York under Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who succeeded Cuomo. The DOJ says that under the settlement Hochul’s administration has started a series of reforms, including external reporting and investigation, as well as adding more employees to the new human resources department, and finally, removing employees in the previous administration who helped Cuomo.
