Friday, March 18, 2022

18 March 2022: Cuomo Staffers Try Escape Being Defendants in Trooper's Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Top Cuomo aides seek to get out of lawsuit filed by female trooper

This report covers an attempt by two of Andrew M. Cuomo's top staffers, former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and chief PR flack Richard Azzopardi, to escape being held responsible in a civil lawsuit for their actions related to Andrew M. Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment of a female state trooper.

Here's an excerpt (do click through to the article to read the whole thing):

Two of Andrew M. Cuomo's top former aides are seeking to be removed as defendants in a lawsuit filed by a State Police investigator who accused the former governor of sexually harassing, kissing and inappropriately touching her while she was assigned to his protective detail.

An attorney for former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and Richard Azzopardi, who remains a spokesman for Cuomo, wrote a letter to U.S. District Court this week indicating he will file a motion to have the federal complaint against them dismissed. DeRosa is accused in the lawsuit of aiding and abetting Cuomo's alleged misconduct, and both are accused of retaliating against the female trooper.

The accusations by the trooper — identified in the attorney general's report as "Trooper 1" — were among the most damaging leveled against Cuomo, who had urged a senior investigator on his protective detail to offer the now-31-year-old female investigator a job on the special unit that protects the governor. Two years ago, when pressed about the governor's role in getting the trooper on his detail after meeting her at an event in New York City, Cuomo had denied having any role in her transfer.

The attorney general's report also confirmed information that Times Union had asked Cuomo's office in 2020: the State Police's minimum qualification rules had been changed in order to get the female trooper on the governor's protective detail. She alleged Cuomo later routinely engaged in inappropriate conduct, including touching her, kissing her on the cheek and asking her questions about clothing, personal life and marriage.

Paul Shechtman, an attorney for DeRosa and Azzopardi, contends that neither DeRosa nor Azzopardi retaliated against the trooper, whose identity is being withheld by the Times Union. He said they were "private citizens" at the time they made comments accusing the trooper or her attorneys of trying to "extort" money from the governor.

Acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith described the female trooper's allegations as "credible, deeply troubling, but not criminal under New York law" when she announced she would not pursue criminal charges on 23 December 2021. Cuomo's own personal attorney, Rita Glavin, has publicly acknowledged Cuomo "may have very well touched the state trooper’s back", in which "she may have understood it one way and he understood it another way", which is slimy lawyerese for admitting there is real substance behind the trooper's allegations.

Since then, the state of New York has passed several laws to address the legal deficiencies in the state's laws for sexual harassment that provided the loopholes that effectively allowed Cuomo to escape criminal prosecution.

Of the two staffers, Azzopardi had not been included as part of the original lawsuit filing. That changed thanks to his incredibly tone-deaf statements made on behalf of Andrew M. Cuomo several weeks ago, which earned his place as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Here's relevant background from the timeline:

This story has all the elements confirming why Andrew M. Cuomo desperately needs better PR people and more legal help.

-