指控前纽约州州长安德鲁·科莫性骚扰的前助手夏洛特·贝内特(Charlotte Bennett)周三在联邦法院起诉他，指控他性别歧视、性骚扰和报复。
除了科莫，在曼哈顿联邦法院提起的诉讼还提到了他的三名高级助手:梅丽莎·德罗萨、吉尔·德罗斯尔斯和朱迪思·莫古尔。
纽约司法部长的报告发现科莫骚扰了11名女性，贝内特是其中之一为了他的辞职2021年8月卸任。
“在她担任被告库莫的行政助理期间，当时的州长让她受到关于她的外表的性化评论，给她分配羞辱和贬低的任务，并从2020年6月初开始，让她受到关于她的个人生活、浪漫和性关系以及作为性侵犯幸存者的历史的侵犯性和不受欢迎的问题，”贝内特的诉讼说。
诉讼称，当贝内特向参谋长德罗斯尔·贝内特报告她的主张和她对报复的恐惧时，她被调到了“一个较低的职位”。
“州长一直说他没有骚扰任何人，随着时间的推移，越来越多的信息被揭露出来，表明对州长有利的证据是如何被压制的，关键的事实是如何被忽视或忽略的，这削弱了证人的可信度。在发现过程中还会出现什么?我们将在法庭上见到他们，”科莫律师丽塔·格拉文在周三对美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中说。
贝内特在2021年2月的一篇文章中公开了她的一些主张《纽约时报》在另一位库莫的前职员林赛·博伊兰发表了她的观点后。科莫当时声称，他涉及贝内特的行为被误解了。
Governor Andrew Cuomo holds press briefing and makes announcement to combat COVID-19 Delta variant in New York, Aug. 21, 2021.
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诉讼中的指控扩展了贝内特此前提出的许多公开主张，包括2019年10月4日的一个电话，当时她说库莫开始唱“你准备好了吗?”到“你爱我吗?”从轮廓来看。
“当原告告诉被告库莫她不认识这首歌时，被告库莫唱了歌中的几行:‘你爱我吗，你真的爱我吗?“你爱我吗，你在乎吗，”被告库莫对她唱歌让原告不舒服，她尴尬地笑了，”诉讼称。
诉讼称，几周后，科莫问了贝内特一系列尖锐的问题，询问他的手有多大。
“鉴于一个男人的手的大小和他的阴茎大小之间的普遍联系，原告理解被告科莫在鼓励她评论他的生殖器大小，这让她非常不舒服，”诉讼说。
起诉书称，贝内特指控科莫问了她一些令人不安的问题，这些问题是关于她在大学期间遭到性侵犯的。
“被告科莫的问题让原告非常不舒服，但她觉得她不能拒绝回应，并简要描述了她当时的男友未经她的同意就在她的衣服上射精的事件，”诉讼称。“被告科莫的回应大意是，‘嗯，有些人的情况要糟糕得多。’"
在纽约州总检察长莱蒂夏·詹姆斯进行了五个月的调查后，科莫于去年辞职。这168页的报告称“根据联邦法律和纽约州法律，州长的行为构成性骚扰。”
“具体来说，我们发现州长对一些现任和前任纽约州雇员进行了性骚扰，包括进行不受欢迎和未经同意的触摸，以及发表大量带有暗示和性性质的攻击性评论，为女性创造了一个充满敌意的工作环境，”报告说。
在宣布辞职时，科莫说他的第一反应是反对这一指控，他说这是出于政治动机。然而，他说让他下台可以为纳税人节省数百万美元。“我现在能帮上忙的最好方式就是让位，”他去年说。
然而，他说，“不要误解我——这并不是说没有11个女人是我真正冒犯的。有。为此，我深表歉意。”
Ex-Cuomo aide sues former governor, alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation
Charlotte Bennett, a former aide who has accused ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, sued him Wednesday in federal court, alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation.
In addition to Cuomo, the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, also named three of his top aides: Melissa DeRosa, Jill DesRosiers and Judith Mogul.
Bennett was among 11 women a New York Attorney General’s report found Cuomo harassed, which ledto his resignationfrom office in August, 2021.
"Throughout her employment as Defendant Cuomo's Executive Assistant, 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," Bennett's lawsuit said.
When Bennett reported her claims and her fear of retaliation to chief of staff DesRosiers Bennett, she was transferred "to an inferior position," the lawsuit said.
"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 suppressed 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," Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday.
Bennett went public with some her claims in a February 2021 article inThe New York Timesafter another former Cuomo staff member, Lindsey Boylan, published her account. Cuomo claimed at the time that his actions involving Bennett were misunderstood.
The allegations in the lawsuit expand upon many of the public claims Bennett previously made, including an Oct. 4, 2019, phone call when she said Cuomo began singing the words, "Are you ready?" to the tune of "Do You Love Me?" by The Contours.
"When Plaintiff told Defendant Cuomo she did not recognize the song, Defendant Cuomo sang several lines from the song: 'Do you love me, do you really love me? Do you love me, do you care?' Defendant Cuomo's singing to her made Plaintiff uncomfortable and she laughed awkwardly," the lawsuit said.
A few weeks later, Cuomo asked Bennett a series of pointed questions about the size of his hands, the suit said.
"Given the common association 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," the lawsuit said.
Bennett accused Cuomo of asking her uncomfortable questions about a time when she was sexually assaulted during college, the suit said.
"Defendant Cuomo's questions made Plaintiff extremely uncomfortable, but she felt she could not decline to respond and briefly described an incident in which her then-boyfriend ejaculated on her clothing without her consent," the lawsuit said. "Defendant Cuomo responded with something to the effect of, 'Well, some people have it much worse.'"
Cuomo resigned last year after a five-month investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James. The168-page reportsaid "the governor engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law."
"Specifically, we find that the Governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women," the report said.
In announcing his resignation, Cuomo said his first instinct was to fight the allegation, which he said were politically motivated. However, he said it would save the taxpayers millions of dollars for him to step down. "The best way I can help now is if I step aside," he said last year.
However, he said, "Don't get me wrong -- this is not to say that there are not 11 women who I truly offended. There are. And for that, I deeply, deeply apologize."
