A judge ruled this week that lawyers for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be allowed to grill his accusers under oath.
In a sweeping ruling, judges ruled that Cuomo is able to demand some documents and depositions from his accusers and other former state officials involved in the former governor’s scandals.
The judge’s order came after months of back-and-forth between Cuomo and several women who have accused him of sexual harassment, finally granting some clarity in a dizzying web of lawsuits.
Cuomo, who denies the allegations against him, had issued dozens of subpoenas requesting mountains of evidence from 36 people and government entities surrounding Attorney General Letitia James’ 2021 report alleging the governor sexually harassed 11 women.
Judge Taryn Merkyl slimmed down many of Cuomo’s evidence requests, which several of his accusers were fighting on grounds that they claim were extremely burdensome to produce and, in some cases, were being requested to embarrass them.
“We are pleased with the decisions made by judges in both the Trooper 1 and Bennett cases to significantly limit discovery in those matters. Ms. Boylan is not a party to either case yet has been under constant siege by Mr. Cuomo and subjected to an unprecedented number of subpoenas that intrude on every part of her life,” Boylan’s lawyers, Julie Gerchik and Danya Perry told the Post in a statement.
The bulk of Cuomo’s requests for evidence were issued in reaction to federal lawsuits filed against him by two of his accusers – former executive chamber aide Charlotte Bennett and an anonymous female state trooper from the former governor’s protective detail, referred to in court documents as “Trooper 1.”
Cuomo’s legal response involved requesting evidence and depositions from several of his accusers including Bennett, Trooper 1, Lindsey Boylan, and Ana Liss-Jackson as well as other witnesses tangentially involved with his scandals like former Empire State Development Director Howard Zemsky, former state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, and former aide Karen Hinton.
Even Judge Merkyl went as far to coin Cuomo’s effort as a relitigation of James’ 2021 report in her ruling this week.
“Cuomo has not just issued subpoenas to Complainants, but has issued many subpoenas to witnesses who know the Complainants,” Merkyl wrote. “In an apparent effort to develop impeachment evidence to use against them, and to undercut the reliability of the [attorney general’s] report.”
According to the judge’s order, the parties in Trooper 1’s lawsuit – Trooper 1 and Cuomo – will have to sit for depositions first. After they’re deposed, Cuomo’s attorneys can then begin depositions of other witnesses named in the case, including Hinton and Boylan.
The document requests in his accuser’s cases aren’t the only records Cuomo is going after either – the former governor has filed records requests under the state’s Freedom of Information law from the Attorney General’s office related to the 2021 investigation. On Thursday, Cuomo’s lawyers initiated a lawsuit trying to force James’ office to turn over some of the records related to his request.