Cuomo created 'sexually hostile work environment,' Justice Dept. finds. What report said

The sexual harassment scandal that brought down former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021 added a final chapter on Friday with the announcement of reforms his successor is taking to conclude a federal investigation.

That probe found Cuomo had subjected at least 13 female state employees to a "sexually hostile work environment," according to a copy of the agreement Gov. Kathy Hochul reached with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

What were the Justice Dept's other findings?

The agreement, released by federal officials with their announcement, spelled out that alleged conduct in collective terms, saying Cuomo "repeatedly subjected these female employees to unwelcome, non-consensual sexual contact; ogling; unwelcome sexual comments; gender-based nicknames; comments on their physical appearances; and/or preferential treatment based on their physical appearances."

Administration officials knew about his conduct but failed to appropriately address it, acting instead to protect him from further accusations and even retaliating against four of his accusers, according to the account.

In a statement announcing the agreement, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the conduct of the state’s most powerful elected official and his staff in the executive chamber was "especially egregious because of the stark power differential involved and the victims’ lack of avenues to report and redress harassment."

The reforms agreed to by Hochul's office "will address system failures of the past while helping prevent the recurrence of systemic sexual harassment and retaliation in the future,” Clarke said.

Donald Rehkopf Jr., an attorney representing Ana Liss-Jackson, who was named in an Aug. 2021 report by Attorney General Letitia James's Office that found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, said the Justice Department's findings "vindicate what (Liss-Jackson's) been saying all along."

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Cuomo's camp: Findings based on 'discredited' AG's report

Cuomo has strongly disputed the women's allegations, and on Friday his spokesman dismissed the federal findings as a "rubber stamping" of what he said was a "discredited" report by the Attorney General about the harassment claims.

"This isn't worth the paper it's printed on, and it's ironic that Gov. Hochul, who herself is accused of retaliation, signed off on it," spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Azzopardi zeroed in on the last clause of the eight-page agreement that acknowledged "no admission of liability" by the Executive Chamber, and said the agreement "shall not constitute an adjudication or finding on the merits of the case."

A spokesman for James said the federal findings had corroborated what her office had determined.

“Today, the U.S. Department of Justice found that Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and created a hostile work environment, confirming what the New York Attorney General’s independent report found over two years ago," the statement from James' office read. "Andrew Cuomo can continue to deny the truth and attack these women, but the facts do not lie.”

2021 report: Highlights of AG report against Andrew Cuomo: 11 women harassed, 179 witnesses interviewed

Cuomo resigned under mounting pressure in August 2021, a few weeks after James' report was released. Hochul, then lieutenant governor, ascended to his vacated position and was elected to a full term as governor in November 2022.

The agreement outlined reforms Hochul's office had taken or planned to take to address sexual harassment complaints. They included expanding the human resources department; creating a workplace sexual harassment hotline; setting new policies for the reporting and handling of complaints; and new harassment training.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY Gov. Cuomo created 'sexually hostile work environment': report