Friday, September 10, 2021

10 September 2021: Cuomo Influence Network Member Embedded in Facebook Still on the Job

Facebook mum on staffer who may have broken law advising Cuomo on sex harass claims

According to experts in New York's election law, the actions of former Cuomo staffer Dani Lever to participate in distributing Lindsay Boylan's state government employee personnel file after she went public with allegations of Andrew M. Cuomo's sexual harassment of her has exposed Facebook to legal liability.

Facebook communications manager Dani Lever was part of Cuomo’s “inner circle” of confidantes who helped plan the then-governor’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct, according to the attorney general’s investigation released last month. She joined Facebook in August 2020 after having worked in the governor’s press office since 2014.

Legal experts tell The Post that Lever’s role advising Cuomo likely put Facebook in violation of New York state’s lobbying law.

The law bans registered lobbyists from giving gifts worth more than $15 to public officials — and Facebook has been a registered lobbyist in New York state since at least 2019, public records show.

Because Lever is a Facebook employee and a communications professional, her work helping Cuomo navigate the public relations crisis constituted an illegal gift on behalf of the company, says David Grandeau, the former top ethics watchdog in New York state.

“Using your professional services and providing them to a public official for free of charge is a gift,” Grandeau told The Post. “It’s a misdemeanor for her and it’s a misdemeanor for Facebook. It is a clear violation.”

A misdemeanor that could include up to a year in jail time.

This report provides additional insight into some of the legal liability issues that motivated the Human Rights Council's firing of Alphonso David and the resignation of all the leadership and the board of Time's Up.

Previous coverage from the timeline:

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