Lindsey Boylan
AP Picture/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File
The lawyer defending former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in opposition to a number of sexual harassment allegations leveled some accusations of her personal Thursday.
Legal professional Rita Glavin held a digital press convention the place she alleged that one in every of Cuomo’s accusers acquired “greater than skilled” with the state’s financial growth czar — and later used a particular, super-secret messaging app to threaten him.
Glavin mentioned proof lately turned over to her by state Legal professional Common Letitia James revealed that Empire State Improvement CEO Howard Zemsky advised investigators a few time in late 2017 when he and Cuomo accuser Lindsey Boylan, then his chief of workers, had been “greater than skilled.”
“I’ll go away it at that,” Glavin mentioned of Zemsky’s admission at her personal digital press convention. Cuomo was not in attendance.
However Glavin later mentioned that “there had been some rumors and issues about their relationship inside ESD” sparked by staff “having witnessed some conduct that gave them concern.”
Then-ESD counsel Alphonso David “had them each in and questioned them, and so they each denied having ever had some kind of improper relationship,” Glavin mentioned.
However when Boylan and Zemsky had been questioned by James’ investigators, she mentioned, “my learn of the testimony is that they’re not in keeping with one another.”
Glavin additionally mentioned Boylan later used the Confide app — which sends encrypted textual content messages that self-destruct and may’t be captured in screenshots — to contact Zemsky after he and different officers disputed her allegation that Cuomo requested her to play strip poker throughout a flight on his official jet.
“I can’t wait to destroy your life, your [sic] s–t follower,” Boylan allegedly advised Zemsky, in line with Glavin.
“And I presume Ms. Boylan is referring to herself and realizing one thing about Mr. Zemsky.”
After getting Boylan’s textual content, Zemsky “modified his story” however she was by no means questioned by James’ investigators about sending it or utilizing the app, Glavin mentioned throughout an almost two-hour, digital information convention.
“The AG had proof that Ms. Boylan was tampering with a witness, making an attempt to get him to corroborate her and threatened to destroy his life if he didn’t,” she mentioned.
Boylan’s lawyer, Julie Gerchik, mentioned, “The previous governor and his lawyer are persevering with their smear marketing campaign of Ms. Boylan to punish her for being the primary of a number of girls to show the governor’s misconduct.
Continued Gerchik, “Along with the Legal professional Common’s findings, the New York State Meeting employed one in every of New York’s high regulation companies to conduct an impartial investigation and so they concluded that there was ‘overwhelming assist that the previous Governor engaged in a number of cases of misconduct.’ The information and two impartial investigative experiences communicate for themselves.”
Glavin additionally accused James of ignoring a go well with in opposition to Hamilton School that she mentioned raised credibility questions on Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett, who Glavin mentioned was accused in courtroom papers of falsely accusing a fellow pupil there of sexual misconduct.
“We all know now via discovery that the lawyer common was effectively conscious of this Hamilton School lawsuit and Ms. Bennett’s declare, which she withdrew,” Glavin mentioned.
“Why didn’t the AG ask Ms. Bennett about these allegations? Why didn’t she ask in regards to the lawsuit?… There was proof of falsity and she or he withdrew these allegations.”
Glavin alleged that the therapy of Boylan and Bennett was a part of a plan by James to power Cuomo from workplace by releasing the bombshell, Aug. 3 report that accused him of sexually harassing 11 girls, together with 9 present or former state staff, then search to switch him within the November election.
Bennett’s lawyer Debra Katz responded, “Rita Glavin is aware of that what she is pedaling to discredit Charlotte Bennett is baseless. And she or he additionally is aware of that the conclusions reached by the AG and the NY State Meeting are unassailable. That is simply the most recent determined act by the Governor.”
Cuomo introduced his resignation on Aug. 10 and James declared her candidacy for governor on Oct. 29, however she dropped out about six weeks later and mentioned she’d as an alternative search reelection as AG.
Glavin, a former US Justice Division official, on Thursday all however accused James of professional misconduct and instructed that Cuomo would take authorized motion if she didn’t rent “actually impartial investigators” and revise her report in opposition to him.
“I implore the lawyer common to do the proper factor,” Glavin mentioned.
However a James spokesperson dismissed Glavin’s remarks, saying in a ready assertion, ““One other day, one other try by the previous governor to assault the courageous girls who referred to as out his abuse.”
“1000's of pages of transcripts, reveals, movies, and different proof have already been publicly launched, however these lies proceed in an effort to masks the reality: Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed a number of girls,” the assertion mentioned.
“There's a mountain of proof to assist these findings, which had been corroborated by the Meeting’s report and deemed credible by a number of DAs. New Yorkers are uninterested in these excuses.”
Additionally throughout her marathon information convention — which at instances appeared extra just like the closing protection argument after a months-long trial — Glavin repeatedly attacked the information media for its protection of the allegations in opposition to Cuomo and accused lawmakers of dashing to judgment in opposition to him.
However Glavin by no means acknowledged that authorities leaders are held to larger requirements than non-public residents, though she admitted at one level, “I’m not an elected official, I don’t must run for reelection.”
James’ report prompted not less than 5 district attorneys throughout the state to open legal investigations into incidents that allegedly came about inside their jurisdictions.
However Cuomo has to this point escaped prosecution in three counties, although officers there all described his accusers as “credible.”
Essentially the most severe case concerned former aide Brittany Commisso, 33, who alleged that Cuomo groped her inside Albany’s Govt Mansion on Dec. 7, 2020.
In October, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple filed a misdemeanor cost of forcible touching in opposition to Cuomo, however it was dismissed final week after Albany County DA David Soares concluded that “we can't meet our burden at trial.”
DAs in Nassau and Westchester additionally mentioned the incidents that came about of their counties — which included the alleged undesirable kissing and touching of ladies, together with a feminine state trooper assigned to Cuomo’s protecting element — didn’t quantity to crimes below state regulation.
On Friday, CNN reported that former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., shortly earlier than leaving workplace on Dec. 31, determined to not pursue a case in opposition to Cuomo over allegations he ran his finger down the trooper’s again and touched an unidentified lady’s buttocks whereas they had been posing for a photograph.
A spokesperson for brand new Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg declined to remark Thursday, however a supply acquainted with the matter confirmed Vance’s choice.
Along with forcing Cuomo from workplace, the sexual harassment scandal led to final month’s firing of his youthful brother, Chris Cuomo, because the host of CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” program after James launched data that exposed he contacted information trade “sources” about doubtlessly damaging experiences and tried to dig up dust on not less than one accuser.
Whereas reviewing that materials, CNN was knowledgeable about an unrelated allegation of sexual misconduct in opposition to Chris Cuomo throughout his earlier employment by ABC Information and “noticed no motive to delay taking rapid motion,” the community mentioned on the time.
Chris Cuomo has mentioned via a spokesman that “these apparently nameless allegations are usually not true.”
Extra reporting by Tamar Lapin
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