- Charlotte Bennett was 25 when she became the second aide to accuse Andrew Cuomo of sex harassment.
- On Wednesday, she filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against him and three of his former aides.
The former aide who is one of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo's most outspoken sexual-harassment accusers has sued him in federal court in Manhattan, alleging he humiliated her on the job and retaliated when she complained.
Charlotte Bennett, just 25 when she worked for Cuomo, is seeking unspecified cash damages for loss of salary and emotional distress from her ex-boss and three other aides she says joined in a vendetta to keep her quiet.
The lawsuit alleges Cuomo made unwanted advances throughout her employment as his executive assistant, from May 2019 to June 2020.
It was filed one day after Cuomo asked the New York court system's Attorney Grievance Committee to investigate state AG Letitia James over the "misleading" and "biased" report that helped force him from office last summer.
"The then-Governor subjected her to sexualized comments about her appearance, assigned her humiliating and demeaning tasks, and beginning in early June 2020, subjected her to invasive and unwanted questions about her personal life, romantic and sexual relationships, and history as a survivor of sexual assault," according to Bennett's lawsuit.
"He told her he was 'lonely,' wanted a girlfriend who lived in Albany, and was willing to date someone over the age of 21 years old," the lawsuit alleges.
At one point, two summers ago, Cuomo even seemed aware of the potential for harassment trouble.
Bennett was taking dictation when Cuomo, who was seated behind the governor's desk in Albany, joked that the way her COVID mask moved in and out as she breathed reminded him of the monsters in the movie "Predator."
Bennett "laughed uncomfortably," her lawsuit alleges.
"Defendant Cuomo then commented something to the effect of, 'If I were investigated for sexual harassment, I would have to say I told her she looked like a monster.'"
Not five months into the job, Cuomo asked Bennett "a series of pointed questions about the size of his hands," asking, for example, about what "everyone" thought about how big they are.
"Given the common association between between the size of a man's hands and the size of his penis, Plaintiff understood Defendant Cuomo to be encouraging her to comment on the size of his genitals, which made her extremely uncomfortable."
Bennett's in-house sex-harassment complaints were met with inaction, except that she was shuffled into a do-nothing, "no tasks" assignment, her lawsuit alleges.
And after she spoke out to the New York Times about her experiences, Cuomo "used his media platform to portray her as a liar and sought to undermine her credibility," the lawsuit alleges.
Bennett, the second accuser of 11 to come forward against Cuomo, is being repped in her lawsuit by Debra Katz, a high-profile DC attorney who also represented Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin responded in a statement: "The Governor has always said he didn't harass anyone and with each day that goes by more and more information is uncovered showing how evidence favorable to the Governor was supressed and crucial facts ignored or omitted that undermined witness credibility.
"What else will come out during the discovery process? We'll see them in court," Glavin added.
Katz, in turn, called Glavin's remark "an ongoing form of retaliation" by Cuomo, "in an attempt to revive his floundering career rather than take accountability for his actions."