Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has placed a gag order on the sexual harassment accuser's lawyers to publicly discuss $28 million in taxpayer funds paid to defend him and others involved in his lawsuit. I'm trying to stop it from continuing.
Cuomo's campaign has argued that he has a legal right to have the state pay for legal fees related to his tenure, but accuser Charlotte Bennett's lawyers have asked potential jurors to In response, they are invoking an alarmingly growing number of legal taboos to “prejudice” Mr. Cuomo and hold him accountable. He tries to force a settlement in her case.
“There is no question that such statements are unfair and highly detrimental to Governor Cuomo.” [indeed, intentionally so]Mr. Cuomo's lawyers, Teresa Trzascoma and Rita Glavine, asked for the gag order to be imposed in a Dec. 3 letter to Manhattan federal judge Sarah Cave.
Mr. Cuomo's lawyers are preparing to grill Mr. Bennett in two days of depositions, Dec. 18 and 19, which will include questioning from other defendants' attorneys for at least 14 hours total. Depositions are expected, court records show.
Other defendants include former Cuomo aides Melissa DeRosa, Judith Moog and Judith Desrosiers, who are accused of aiding and abetting Mr. Cuomo.
Bennett said Cuomo “subjected her to sexual comments about her appearance, assigned her demeaning and humiliating assignments, and, starting in early June 2020, made sexual comments about her appearance, assigned her demeaning and humiliating tasks, and, starting in early June 2020, made intimate comments about her personal life, romantic relationships, sexual relationships, and the war. “He asked her intrusive and unwanted questions about her history as a survivor.” sexual assault,” according to the original complaint filed in September 2022.
She called Mr. Cuomo a “danger” to women.
But Mr. Cuomo's lawyers are seeking to turn the tables on Mr. Bennett, arguing that he engaged in “impulsive and reckless personal conduct” both inside and outside the workplace and caused a “personal feud.” Mr. Cuomo claims he was trying to help Mr. Bennett rather than harass him. .
Still, Mr. Cuomo's aggressive defense comes at a high cost to state taxpayers.
The cost to the state of Cuomo's legal defense and responding to other investigations involving him and his administration has reached $28 million and continues to rise, according to data obtained by The Post through a legal request. It became clear.
The state spent $16.3 million on defense for Mr. Cuomo and former executive branch officials. According to State Auditor Tom DiNapoli's office, the funds include $8.2 million from the ongoing State Trooper v. Cuomo case and $8.1 million from the ongoing Charlotte Bennett v. Cuomo case. It includes dollars.
The state spent an additional $11.7 million on legal representation related to Cuomo's sexual harassment investigation, response to the COVID-19 investigation, and Congressional impeachment proceedings.
“We are writing on behalf of former Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to ask him to enter the court.”
Confidentiality order prohibiting plaintiff's attorney from making further extrajudicial statements
regarding the cost of defending this matter,” Mr. Cuomo’s lawyers wrote to Mr. Cave in a recent letter.
A representative for Mr. Cuomo complained about comments made by Mr. Bennett's campaign in a September article in the New York Times. Litigation costs are rising In a Nov. 21 press release, Bennett's attorney Deborah Katz issued a statement after a state judge refused summary judgment in a separate harassment lawsuit filed by him and Bennett in state court. Included.
Katz “sought to poison the entire New York jury,” the lawyers said.
Trzascoma and Rita Glavine said Bennett's lawyers are working with Cuomo to pressure Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James to resolve a separate lawsuit filed in state court. He is said to have been subject to a large amount of legal liability.
Mr. Cuomo's lawyers also blamed Mr. Bennett for delaying and costing the trial.
Cuomo city spokesman Richard Azzopardi said Sunday that “we are also outraged by the cost,” but said AG James' “expensive” initial investigation into sexual harassment accusations against Cuomo was “patently false.” It has been proven that there is.”
“Trying to use defense spending as a means to create public pressure to force a settlement regardless of merit is a cynical tactic, and we will never fall prey to it,” Cuomo said.
Bennett's attorney predictably told the judge that he would oppose the gag order.
Plaintiffs' attorneys Katz Eisenberg and Herbert Eisenberg said, “Cuomo's request for a nondisclosure order that would keep Ms. Bennett's lawyers from speaking has no legal support, and Ms. Bennett has no right to respect. “We therefore ask the court to deny Cuomo's letter motion,” plaintiffs' attorneys Katz Eisenberg and Herbert Eisenberg said in a December filing. Six replies to Judge Cave.
Bennett's lawyers called the “extraordinary” gag order proposed by Cuomo “unconscionable” and a violation of free speech, calling it “an excuse to smear Bennett and an attempt to deflect from Mr. Cuomo's harassment.” '. .
Katz and Eisenberg said that discussing these costs “cannot reasonably be said to influence the public's view of a defendant's liability for sexual harassment or retaliation.”
It was James' investigative report corroborating allegations of sexual misconduct by a group of women, including Bennett, that forced Cuomo to resign in August 2021 under the threat of impeachment, but Cuomo refused to accept the accusations. He continues to deny it.
Mr. Cuomo's lawyer said the investigation is underway to prove Mr. Cuomo's innocence.
“None of Mr. Bennett's claims can stand up to the mountain of contemporaneous video and text message evidence we now have but which was not turned over to the OAG.” [the state Office of Attorney General]” Glavin and Trzascoma write.
“Governor Cuomo has no interest in settling this lawsuit. He never sexually harassed Ms. Bennett and has the right to prove his innocence.”
