When New York Attorney General Letitia James released the report on Andrew Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment in August, three separate district attorneys in the state also announced criminal inquiries into the allegations of misconduct within the blockbuster document. In October, the disgraced former governor’s troubles grew when the Albany County Sheriff’s Office filed a criminal complaint alleging he groped former executive assistant Brittany Commisso. But Cuomo’s potential legal problems don’t end there. On Thursday, the New York Post and Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department has also been investigating his alleged workplace acts of harassment.
Before Cuomo resigned in August, the Journal reports that lawyers with the
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York wrote to his office saying they were looking at employment policies among Cuomo’s top aides and advisors. According to the Post, the inquiry is focused on potential violations of federal civil rights and labor laws. It was previously reported in June that prosecutors in the Eastern District were also investigating the publication of Cuomo’s memoir American Crisis — for which he was paid over $5 million — and the administration’s cover-up of scores of deaths at nursing homes in the early days of the pandemic.
In response to the development, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi acknowledged that they were contacted when “the Civil Division opened an inquiry in August,” while referring to the “AG’s politically motivated sham report.” Azzopardi says that they have not heard from federal investigators since then.
