New York State on Friday agreed to pay $450,000 to Brittany Commisso, a former aide to Andrew Cuomo who accused him of groping and subjecting her to persistent sexual harassment on the job at the governor’s office.
Lawyers for Commisso called the settlement with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office “a complete vindication” of her claims against Cuomo, leveled in a November 2023 suit filed under the Adult Survivors Act.
“[Just] as the repeated findings made by the Attorney General, the State Assembly and the US Department of Justice were. Those three independent investigations all found that Cuomo subjected Ms. Commisso to unwanted sexual harassment and groping when she worked for him as an assistant,” Mariann Wang and Kevin Mintzer said in a joint statement.
“Ms. Commisso is proud to have reported the truth and vindicated her rights in court, and likewise glad to be able to move forward with her life.”
Lawyers for the former Democratic governor, now running as an independent in the race for New York City mayor, said they would challenge the settlement to keep the case active so they would have the opportunity to dispute the allegations in court.
They said the settlement was “not a vindication,” but rather a “capitulation to avoid the truth.”
It does not require Cuomo to admit to any wrongdoing, and Cuomo has repeatedly denied the accusations against him, including Commisso’s. The state settled a suit brought by former Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett for the same amount in April in a case alleging similar claims.
Commisso’s suit, which was filed in state Supreme Court in Albany, claimed that after rebuffing Cuomo’s advances and reporting his conduct in March 2021, she was demoted and reassigned to answering phones for then-Lt. Gov. Hochul. Friday’s settlement also resolves Commisso’s retaliation claim against Hochul and includes a promise she will not apply to work at the governor’s office again until after December 2030.
Hochul spokesman Anthony Hogrebe, in a statement, said, “The State of New York is pleased to have settled this matter in a way that allows us to minimize further costs to taxpayers.”
Commisso, 36, was one of the 11 women whose sexual misconduct claims against Cuomo led to his resignation in August 2021. She accused the former governor of relentlessly sexually harassing her after she started working with him in close quarters as an assistant in 2019.
The suit alleged Cuomo was prone to “hugging and kissing her, pressing his body up against hers, and rubbing her backside with his hands.” In one alleged December 2020 incident at the governor’s mansion outlined in the lawsuit, Commisso claimed Cuomo put his arms around her, stuck his hand in her blouse and groped her breast.
An investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office in 2021 substantiated Commisso’s claims and those of 10 other women who accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct. Cuomo, who has called the report politically motivated, did not face criminal charges for any of the alleged incidents.
In statements to The News trading barbs with Commisso’s legal team, lawyers for Cuomo criticized the settlement as rushed. They accused Commisso of settling to avoid a deposition and withholding text messages in the AG’s probe.
“This nuisance settlement, which expressly does not include any admission of liability, is intended to end Ms. Commisso’s failed efforts to leverage a meritless lawsuit into a multimillion dollar payday while hiding the truth from the public,” Rita Glavin and Theresa Trzaskoma said.
Commisso’s attorneys pushed back on the claims, saying she settled to move on from the years-old litigation.
“Contrary to the rantings of Cuomo’s lawyers, we are confident that Ms. Commisso would prevail at trial. However, because the state offered her a very appealing settlement, Ms. Commisso, like NYC voters, decided to turn the page on Cuomo. He should learn how to take no for an answer.”
Cuomo’s attorneys responded, “Ms. Commisso’s counsel knows full well that a $225k payment in a high-profile case is not ‘appealing’ if you’re actually confident of prevailing at trial.” The full $450,000 settlement will be divided between Commisso and her lawyers.
Cuomo this week announced plans to mount an independent bid in November’s general election despite his loss to state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary.
Originally Published: July 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM EDT
