Former NY Governor Cuomo charged with misdemeanor sex offense

NEW YORK, Oct. 28 (Reuters) – A criminal complaint has been filed in a court in Albany, capital of the state, indicting former New York governor Andrew Cuomo of a sexual offense, a court spokesman said New York State on Thursday.

“As this is a sex crime, there will be an edited complaint shortly,” said spokesman Lucian Chalfen in a statement sent via email.

Representatives from Cuomo, 63, who had resigned from office more than two months ago amid increasing legal pressure and demands for the removal of President Joe Biden and others, were not immediately available for comment.

A copy of the complaint posted online by WNBC-TV in New York said Cuomo committed the “violent touch” offense at the governor’s executive mansion on December 7, 2020 by “putting his hand under the shirt of the Victim “… and on her intimate body part.”

The lawsuit goes on to say that Cuomo stroked the woman’s breast “in order to humiliate and satisfy his sexual desires,” but the woman’s name was blacked out.

The week before he stepped down, Brittany Commisso filed a criminal complaint with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office alleging the then governor fingered her chest at the Albany Executive Mansion late last year.

The New York Post said Cuomo is expected to be arrested next week and charged with an offense in allegedly groping a former assistant.

The pending indictment emerges from an investigation by Albany County District Attorney David Soares, citing an informed source.

The Soares office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cuomo resigned as governor in August after serving over 10 years after an investigation found he sexually molested 11 women.

New York attorney general Letitia James said a five-month independent investigation found Cuomo engaged in behavior that violated federal and state law.

“The criminal charges brought against Mr. Cuomo today for violent touching further corroborate the findings of our report,” James said in a statement Thursday.

The former Democratic governor has long denied wrongdoing, despite saying he took “full responsibility” for what he described as ill-conceived attempts to be loving or humorous.

Cuomo’s resignation ended months of doom and ruined the political career of a man who was once considered a potential U.S. presidential candidate and whose daily briefings at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic raised his national profile.

Cuomo’s resignation saved him from possible impeachment through impeachment proceedings in the state parliament, which likely appeared despite the fact that that body is dominated by other Democrats.

The independent investigation found that Cuomo groped, kissed, or made inappropriately suggestive comments on women, including current and former government employees, in revenge on at least one woman who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Like his father Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo was elected governor for three four-year terms.

He was hailed as a national leader at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year after holding daily press conferences as his state became the U.S. epicenter of the public health crisis.

Reporting by Jonathen Stempel; additional coverage by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Edited by Tim Ahmann, Aurora Ellis and Marguerita Choy

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