Charlotte Bennett, a former staffer of Andrew Cuomo, has dismissed her federal lawsuit accusing the former governor of sexual harassment, but not because she no longer stands behind the claim. In a statement released late Monday, Bennett indicated that she dropped the case in the face of aggressive tactics from Cuomo’s legal team. The move comes just one week before she was due to give testimony in a deposition regarding the case.
“Throughout this extraordinarily painful two-year case, I’ve many times believed that I’d be better off dead than endure more of his litigation abuse, which has caused extraordinary pain and expense to my family and friends” she states. She calls the overall experience of coming forward and legally confronting Cuomo “a living nightmare,” pointing to “abusive filings and invasive subpoenas […] meant to humiliate and retaliate against” her and her supporters. According to Debra Katz, Bennett’s lawyer, the former governor’s legal team had sought to publicize Bennett’s private medical records. Just days ago, it was also revealed that Cuomo was trying to put a gag order on Bennett to prevent her from speaking publicly about the $28 million in public funds that have already been spent on his defense.
Charlotte Bennett began working in the then-governor Cuomo’s office as an executive assistant in 2019 when she was 23, eventually quitting the job after reporting numerous instances of sexual harassment. She was the second woman to come forward against the governor in 2021, and filed her federal complaint against him in 2022. Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021, after 11 women came forward with similar accusations to those of Ms. Bennett.
In her now-withdrawn lawsuit, Bennett alleged that Cuomo “subjected her to invasive and unwanted questions about her personal life, romantic and sexual relationships, and history as a survivor of sexual assault.” She also claimed that the former governor told her he was lonely, and that he was willing to date someone local to Albany who was over 21 years old. Bennett’s suit included Cuomo’s top aides – Melissa DeRosa, Jill DesRosiers, and Judith Mogul – as defendants.
Cuomo’s legal team has stated that Bennett’s decision to drop her case amounts to a “complete capitulation and a desperate attempt to avoid being confronted with the mountains of exculpatory discovery.” In January of this year, a federal Department of Justice investigation found that the governor’s Executive Chamber (i.e. his Cabinet) had subjected female employees to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliated against employees who spoke out about the harassment.
According to her lawyers, Charlotte Bennett intends to continue her case against her former employer, the state of New York.
