Mr. Cuomo, the report said, once ran his hand across her stomach when she held the door open for him at an event; ran his finger down her spine when she stood in front of him in an elevator; kissed her on the cheek; and asked her why she did not wear a dress. The woman, whose account was backed by witnesses, including other troopers, told investigators she felt “completely violated.”
In late February, Lindsey Boylan, a former economic development official in the Cuomo administration, became the first woman to outline her claims that Mr. Cuomo harassed her, which she said occurred multiple times from 2016 to 2018. The report found that Mr. Cuomo touched her waist, legs and back; kissed her on the cheek and lips; and suggested once on a plane that the two play “strip poker.” The report also said that the governor’s office “actively engaged in an effort to discredit” Ms. Boylan by, in part, leaking her personnel records.
A few days after Ms. Boylan publicly accused Mr. Cuomo, Charlotte Bennett, a former executive assistant to Mr. Cuomo, told The New York Times that the governor made comments that she took as sexual overtures while they were alone in his Albany office last year. The report found that the governor asked whether she had relationships with older men, told her that he was “lonely” during the pandemic and “wanted to be touched,” and asked if she was monogamous.
In early March, a current female aide who has not been publicly identified leveled one of the most serious allegations: She said Mr. Cuomo groped her while they were alone on the second floor of the Executive Mansion in Albany late last year.
The report bolstered the account, saying that Mr. Cuomo’s behavior toward the woman, who was not named but instead referred to only as Executive Assistant #1, included “regular hugs and kisses on the cheek (and at least one kiss on the lips)” and “incidents where the governor grabbed Executive Assistant #1’s butt.”
“The Governor, during a hug, reached under Executive Assistant #1’s blouse and grabbed her breast,” the report said. The governor denied the women’s account on Tuesday, and said he would refrain from commenting on the matter because the woman’s lawyer could be seeking to press charges.
After his remarks on Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo released a written response to some of the investigation’s findings through his lawyer, Rita Glavin, who called the report “unfair” and “inaccurate.” Among other things, Ms. Glavin highlighted social media posts from some of the women praising the governor even after leaving his office and also cited emails and a calendar showing that on the day that Mr. Cuomo was accused of groping his executive assistant, several other workers were in the mansion, and the two were only alone together briefly.
