A New York judge tore into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday for using millions in taxpayer cash to defend himself against sexual harassment allegations — as the now-mayoral candidate tries to launder his tarnished public image.
The scorching slapdown came as Albany Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman officially dismissed a lawsuit by Cuomo’s one-time executive assistant Brittany Commisso against the state, which settled the case for $450,000 last month.
“Cuomo has not advanced any viable argument for why the taxpayers of this state should continue to foot the bill for his continued use of civil litigation discovery devices to further his efforts to resurrect his public image,” Hartman wrote.
Cuomo was a separate party in the case and fought to keep it from being dismissed.
Hartman rubberstamped the case’s end, but not without excoriating Cuomo for burning through New Yorkers’ money to fund his aggressive legal defense.
Taxpayers have shelled out at least $20 million as Cuomo fights the sexual harassment cases, according to state comptroller’s office data — and drew queasy condemnations for his belligerent legal defense, which included seeking one accuser’s gynecological records.
The taxpayer outlay for Cuomo’s legal bills overall is roughly $60 million, including probes into the then-gov’s handling of the COVID pandemic, his infamous $5 million pandemic book deal and other fees related to defending state agencies.
Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid the flurry of sexual harassment accusations that were bolstered by a damning investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James.
The three-term Democrat has vigorously denied the accusations and contends James’ probe was a political hit job.
After Commisso and several other women sued Cuomo, he had the state pick up the tab for his legal defense because he had served as governor when the accusations unfolded.
Commisso’s case alone has cost taxpayers at least $724,000, the comptroller’s office data shows.
Cuomo had tried to convince the judge to release some of Commisso’s text messages that he claimed would cast doubt on her accusations — which included that he groped her inside the Executive Mansion.
Hartman, however, was unmoved by Cuomo seeking “public vindication” ahead of New York City’s November mayoral election, in which he’s running as an independent after a humiliating loss to Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary.
“As Cuomo’s argument goes, because of his present political aspirations, these text messages must be unsealed so that there may be a verdict in the court of public opinion about the propriety of plaintiff’s claims in this action,” the judge wrote.
“Cuomo’s desire to ‘out’ plaintiff’s text messages in the hopes of obtaining public vindication heading into the 2025 New York City Mayoral general election does not establish prejudice that would justify denial of plaintiff’s motion.”
The governor can still seek text messages in an ongoing case from a state trooper who claimed he inappropriately touched her.
Cuomo’s dogged spokesman Rich Azzopardi continued to claim that Commisso’s unseen texts “obliterated” her claims.
“She is desperate to keep the texts from public scrutiny, which why she suddenly settled her case for a fraction of her initial multimillion dollar demand soon after she was forced to produce them in her meritless lawsuit,” he said. “It is also why she has resisted turning this material over in the Trooper case. The public paid for the discovery that finally led to this evidence and they deserve to know the truth. Governor Cuomo will continue to fight for the release of all the evidence because it shows he didn’t sexually harass anyone and further discredits the AG’s political report.”
Hartman, in her ruling, cast doubt on the Cuomo camp’s claim that Commisso somehow accepted a lowball settlement offer.
“The $450,000 settlement plaintiff accepted from the State here is the precise amount accepted by another former Executive Chamber assistant from the State to settle her own sexual harassment case against Cuomo in April of this year,” Hartman wrote, referring to accuser Charlotte Bennett.
“Cuomo’s present arguments do not even acknowledge that prior settlement.”
— Additional reporting by Peter Senzamici
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