Andrew Cuomo sues woman who accused him of sexual harassment for defamation

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed a lawsuit Thursday against a former aide who alleged he sexually harassed her in 2020. His legal filing came just days after she withdrew her own lawsuit against him. 

In the filing, Cuomo’s lawyers claimed Charlotte Bennett, a former executive assistant in his office, lied about him making sexual advances toward her. 

“Governor Cuomo did not make any sexual advances toward Bennett and did not sexually harass her,” his lawyers wrote in a notice filed in New York state court on Thursday. 

Bennett was the second woman to accuse the then-governor of sexual harassment, which she said included telling her he was “lonely” and asking her if she would be open to sex with an older man. She described Cuomo as “a textbook abuser” who made her “deeply uncomfortable.”

After Bennett went public with her allegations in March 2021, Cuomo held a press conference where he said he felt “embarrassed” and that he “never knew at the time I was making anyone feel uncomfortable.”

In Thursday’s filing, his lawyers wrote the former governor faced “a cascade of harm” as a result of Bennett’s allegations. 

Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after New York’s attorney general released the results of an investigation that concluded he had sexually harassed at least 11 women, including Bennett.

When that investigation came out, Cuomo denied ever sexually harassing women. “The facts are much different than what has been portrayed,” Cuomo said at the time. “I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.”

Last week, Bennett dropped a separate federal suit she had filed in 2022 accusing Cuomo of sexual harassment. In a statement posted by her attorney on X, Bennett cited “invasive discovery requests” made by Cuomo’s legal team that included her medical records from more than a decade ago.  

In their filing today, Cuomo’s attorneys note that their discovery requests fell “under the rules that govern all federal lawsuits. They alleged Bennett dropped her suit to avoid being deposed and to “shield the overwhelming evidence of her false claims from ever becoming public.” 

Cuomo’s notice said “Bennett’s claims were …  exposed as a sham through the discovery process.”

As part of her statement last week, an attorney for Bennett said she would still be pursuing a case against the state of New York, her employer at the time of the alleged harassment. In a separate statement, Bennett called Cuomo’s legal filings “abusive.”

“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,” Bennett said. “I desperately need to live my life.”