New York state will pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former executive assistant to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who accused him of groping her while on the job.
The agreement between Brittany Commisso, the former aide, and current Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is the state’s second settlement of that amount with an employee who accused the previous governor of sexual harassment or misconduct.
Commisso, now 36, alleged Cuomo reached under her blouse and fondled her breast in December 2020 after she was summoned to the Executive Mansion in Albany. She was one of several aides whose claims against Cuomo helped lead to his resignation in 2021.
Cuomo, who is now running for New York City mayor, denies Commisso’s claims.
“Ms. Commisso is proud to have reported the truth and vindicated her rights in court, and likewise glad to be able to move forward with her life,” said attorney Mariann Wang, whose firm represents the former Cuomo assistant.
As part of the deal, Commisso will receive half of the total amount, with the other half going to her attorneys. She also agreed that she won’t seek employment in the governor’s office through 2030.
Commisso sued Cuomo and the State of New York last year, accusing Hochul’s administration of diminishing her workload and bouncing her from position to position after the former governor resigned.
Friday’s settlement includes a requirement that Commisso seek to dismiss the lawsuit entirely. But attorneys for the former governor said they would oppose that effort, accusing Commisso of settling with the state to avoid an upcoming deposition under oath.
“The settlement is not a vindication, it is capitulation to avoid the truth,” said Cuomo attorneys Rita Glavin and Theresa Trzaskoma, who claimed Commisso failed to “leverage a meritless lawsuit into a multimillion-dollar payday while hiding the truth from the public.”
Commisso’s story was detailed in a report from state Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women in violation of state law. One of the other women was Charlotte Bennett, another former Cuomo aide who also settled her case with the state for $450,000 earlier this year. Cuomo rejected the report’s findings, calling them a political hit job.
With Commisso, the Albany County sheriff filed a misdemeanor charge against the former governor, only for then-District Attorney David Soares to drop the case, saying he couldn’t meet the burden of proof at trial.
The state’s settlement comes as Cuomo re-launched his mayoral bid this week, despite losing the Democratic primary to state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in June.
Cuomo will be running on an independent ballot line known as Fight and Deliver in the November election.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
