14 September 2022: Ex-Aide Sues Cuomo, DeRosa Over Alleged Sexual Harassment

Ex-aide Charlotte Bennett sues Cuomo, DeRosa over alleged sexual harassment

It has always just been a matter of time before Andrew M. Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace as New York's governor rather than face impeachment, was sued by more of the women who alleged he sexually harassed them while serving as governor. This report covers the civil case being launched by the second woman to allege sexual harassment abuse on the part of Cuomo. Here's the introduction:

A former assistant to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed a discrimination suit against him Wednesday — that alleges he once joked about getting investigated for sexual harassment over an incident involving her.

Charlotte Bennett’s Manhattan federal court filing claims that during a June 5, 2020, meeting in Cuomo’s office, he made a crack about how watching her COVID-19 mask move when she breathed reminded him of the monsters in the movie ‘”Predator.”

After Bennett “laughed uncomfortably,” Cuomo allegedly foresaw the consequences.

“If I were investigated for sexual harassment, I would have to say I told her she looked like a monster,” he said, according to the suit.

Bennett’s suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that Cuomo repeatedly subjected her to humiliating sexual harassment and tried to smear her as a liar when she went public.

The next excerpt better describes Bennett's legal complaint:

Bennett’s 60-page complaint alleges when she worked for Cuomo between May 2019 and June 2020, he “subjected her to sexualized comments about her appearance, assigned her humiliating and demeaning tasks, and beginning in early June 2020, subjected her to invasive and unwanted questions about her personal life, romantic and sexual relationships, and history as a survivor of sexual assault.”

“He told her he was ‘lonely,’” wanted a girlfriend who lived in Albany, and was willing to date someone over the age of 21 years old,” the suit says.

“Cuomo’s comments and behavior were unwelcome and Ms. Bennett reasonably perceived them to constitute a sexual advance.”

Bennett says she “promptly” complained to Cuomo’s then-chief of staff, co-defendant Judith DesRosiers. But instead of “taking appropriate corrective measures,” DesRosiers transferred Bennett to an “inferior position” on Cuomo’s health policy team.

Neither DesRosiers nor Judith Mogul, Cuomo’s special counsel at the time, interviewed Bennett until after she told other colleagues about Cuomo’s alleged harassment, either, according to the suit.

In addition, DesRosiers, Mogul and DeRosa allegedly violated state policy by failing to refer Bennett’s complaint to the Government Office of Employee Relations.

All three, DesRosiers, Mogul, and DeRosa are named as co-defendants with Andrew M. Cuomo in Bennett's lawsuit.

Cuomo is already defending allegations of sexual harassment in a civil case filed by a female New York state trooper back on 17 February 2022.