10 December 2024: Second Woman Accusing Cuomo of Sexual Harassment Drops Her Federal Lawsuit

Andrew Cuomo sex harass accuser drops lawsuit before she’s set for deposition but takes vicious parting shot: ‘Better off dead’

Charlotte Bennett, the second woman to come forward to accuse Andrew M. Cuomo of sexual harassment, dropped her federal case. The following excerpt summarizes the basic story:

A former aide accusing ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment has decided to drop her federal lawsuit, just days before she was due to give a marathon deposition.

Charlotte Bennett announced that she had voluntarily withdrawn her lawsuit against Cuomo late Monday and claimed the former executive had used “unlimited” taxpayer funds meant for his defense to attack her to the point that she felt she’d be “better off dead than endure more of his litigation abuse.”

“Andrew Cuomo is going to claim this as some kind of victory, which should be viewed, of course, as pathetic,” said Erica Vladimer, co founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group. “Instead, New Yorkers will see him for what he is: an abusive, empty pit of a man who wasted $25 million of taxpayer money to cover up his own mistakes.”

Just days ago, The Post reported that Cuomo had sought a gag order to prevent Bennett from publicly discussing the $28 million in taxpayer funds paid out to defend him and others related to his cases, money to which the former governor is legally entitled.

Cuomo's lawyers delivered their opinion on Bennett's decision to drop her case:

“Ms. Bennett’s decision to drop her baseless lawsuit should be viewed as a complete capitulation and a desperate attempt to avoid being confronted with the mountains of exculpatory discovery — including contemporaneous texts and videos that the AG’s office never obtained — that completely refute her claims against Governor Cuomo,” said Cuomo lawyers Rita Glavin and Theresa Trzaskoma in a statement.

In dropping her case, Bennett avoided testifying under oath, which raises questions about her previous statements. Similar questions arose when Cuomo chose to resign in disgrace as New York's state governor rather than face potential impeachment by New York's state legislature related to the allegations of sexual harassment advanced against him by at least ten other women in addition to Bennett.

The Albany Times-Union reports Bennett will continue her lawsuit against the State of New York.

This entry was added to the timeline on 1 March 2025.