Andrew Cuomo has denied assaulting anyone
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been accused in a criminal complaint of groping a woman two months after he resigned in a sexual harassment scandal.
The one-page complaint, filed by an investigator with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, accused Mr Cuomo of putting his hand under a woman’s shirt on December 7 2020.
The document did not name the woman but Mr Cuomo had been publicly accused of groping an aide, Brittany Commisso, at the executive mansion in Albany last year around that date.
However it was unclear whether the 63-year-old would face charges. Prosecutors said they did not know the document had been filed, and the woman’s attorney said she had not been given a chance to decide whether she wanted to go through with a case.
Mr Cuomo’s lawyer, Rita Glavin, denied the accusation in a statement.
The crime of forcible touching is punishable in New York by up to year in jail and up to three years probation, with discretion for the court to impose lesser penalties including no jail time.
Ms Commisso, a former executive assistant for Mr Cuomo, has alleged that he groped her when they were alone in an office at the governor’s mansion.
She said he pulled her in for a hug as she prepared to leave. When she told him, “you’re going to get us in trouble,” Mr Cuomo allegedly replied, “I don’t care,” and slammed the door. Ms Commisso said Mr Cuomo slid his hand up her blouse and grabbed her breast.
Mr Cuomo has adamantly denied groping her, saying once: “I would have to lose my mind to do such a thing.”
Ms Commisso filed a complaint with the sheriff in August in the same week a report from state Attorney General Letitia James concluded Mr Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women. Other accusations outlined in the report range from planting unwanted kisses to asking unwelcome personal questions about sex and dating.
Mr Cuomo announced his resignation a week after the release of the report, marking a dramatic downfall for the third-term governor who had been seen as a beacon of competence during his daily Covid-19 briefings in 2020. He attacked the attorney general’s report as inaccurate and biased.
