A former staffer who accused Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment dropped her federal lawsuit against the ex-governor on Monday, criticizing him for employing aggressive legal defense tactics as he weighs a possible run for New York City mayor in 2025.
In a statement explaining the decision, Charlotte Bennett and her lawyer, Debra Katz, accused Cuomo of weaponizing the discovery process by making “invasive” requests that were designed to “humiliate” her, including demands for documentation from gynecologist visits and other medical records.
Cuomo’s attorneys, Rita Glavin and Theresa Trzaskoma, declared Bennett’s move a “complete capitulation,” claiming she dropped her “baseless” lawsuit in a “desperate attempt” to avoid having to testify under oath in an upcoming deposition.
The lawsuit, filed in 2022, sought damages from Cuomo and three of his aides for a variety of alleged harassment while she was his 25-year-old staffer in the executive chamber. Bennett said Cuomo asked her about her sex life and whether she had interest in older men.
The former governor has long denied Bennett’s claims and similar harassment allegations from other women who worked for the state, including an executive assistant who claims he groped her under her blouse. Those allegations formed the basis of a report from state Attorney General Letitia James that concluded he violated the state’s sexual harassment law. Cuomo resigned in August 2021, after James’ report was released. He has aggressively criticized how a legal team appointed by James conducted its investigation, saying the process was tainted by politics and bias against him.
The report found that Cuomo’s office was filled with “toxic, bullying-type behavior.”
In her statement explaining why she dropped the case, Bennett said Cuomo’s legal team was using tactics that caused “extraordinary pain and expense” for her family. She said there were times she “believed that I’d be better off dead than endure more of his litigation abuse.”
“I desperately need to live my life,” Bennett said. “That’s the choice I am making today.”
Bennett first accused Cuomo of sexual harassment in February 2021, making her the second aide to do so.
Bennett alleged Cuomo, then 63, asked her repeated invasive questions about a past sexual trauma and her personal life, including whether she had ever been with an older man. She accused him of asking her to find him a girlfriend and telling her he would be OK with anyone over the age of 21.
In recent weeks it emerged that Cuomo changed his residence to Manhattan. His allies have reportedly contacted potential donors. But those close to the former governor say he hasn’t made a final decision about whether to enter the 2025 mayoral race.
The dismissal puts an end to two years of contentious legal back-and-forth over the harassment allegations and the scope of Cuomo’s evidence demands, which included extensive requests for communication between Bennett and the former governor’s other accusers.
Most recently, that battle turned to Katz’s public criticism of Cuomo’s legal defense — which is being funded by the state, thanks to a New York law requiring the public to cover defense costs for a public official sued for conduct connected to their public job.
Last week, Glavin, Cuomo’s attorney, wrote a letter to Manhattan federal Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave, demanding she order Katz to refrain from making public comments about the cost of Cuomo’s legal defense. Taxpayers have covered more than $25 million of Cuomo’s legal bills for a variety of cases, including Bennett’s lawsuit.
In her letter, Glavin said Cuomo “vehemently denies harassing Ms. Bennett,” going as far as to accuse her of trying to “avoid a public hearing on her claims and avoid her contemporaneous communications — which are highly exculpatory to Governor Cuomo — from ever seeing the light of day.”
Katz responded by accusing Cuomo of trying to “conceal his abusive and ‘scorched earth’ litigation tactics from the public” and “smear Ms. Bennett publicly.”
The judge hadn’t ruled on Glavin’s request when Bennett dismissed her case.
In her statement, Katz said Bennett will continue seeking damages from the State of New York, which was Bennett’s official employer when she worked for Cuomo. The former governor is not named as a defendant in that lawsuit filed in state court.
Katz said Bennett is currently engaged in settlement talks with the state. Current Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In her letter to the court last week, Glavin said Cuomo will demand any settlement include the public release of all evidence.
“If New York State does give in to [Bennett’s] public pressure campaign and settles, it will not be on the merits and should require the public release of all the evidence so that New Yorkers finally know the truth: Governor Cuomo never sexually harassed anyone,” they said in their joint statement.
By dropping Bennett’s federal case against Cuomo, Katz said she’s hopeful he can’t interfere with a potential state settlement.
“[W]e thus hope that our client will be able to resolve this dispute and finally be made whole for all the damage Mr. Cuomo and his agents caused her,” Katz said.
Cuomo continues to face lawsuits from two other women who accuse him of misconduct: Brittany Commisso, the former executive assistant who says Cuomo groped her, and an anonymous state trooper who accused him of inappropriate comments and touching. He continues to deny their claims and is fighting their lawsuits in court.
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