 |
| Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo File Photo |
Alessandra Biaggi, who worked as an attorney for the state under Cuomo for two years before becoming a senator, was a frequent critic of the governor as the sexual harassment drama that forced him from office unfolded. She was one of 130 state lawmakers calling on him to resign and provided testimony for an investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James which concluded that he had engaged in systemic sexual harassment— a charge Cuomo denies.
Biaggi is the granddaughter of former congressman Mario Biaggi, who was one of the most decorated officers in the history of the New York City Police Department before serving in the house from 1969-1988.
The federal case involves a state police investigator who accuses Cuomo of kissing her on the cheek and making sexually charged comments when she was assigned to his security detail. The lawsuit filed by the investigator, who is identified in court papers as “Trooper 1,” is one of two federal sexual harassment lawsuits that are being litigated against Cuomo.
Biaggi, who ran unsuccessfully to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps in Congress, called for Cuomo’s impeachment and spoke publicly about what she said was a toxic workplace in the governor’s office.
“It is a culture where people are incessantly berated and yelled at,” she said during a 2021 media interview. “There were intimidation tactics that happened if you’re not considered someone who is going to just carry out the orders or the commands of the governor in a way that, perhaps, he sees fit, even if you believe that it’s unethical.”
Lawyers for Lindsey Boylan, a former Cuomo aide who also accused him of sexual harassment, are looking to block the Biaggi subpoena. Boylan, who has not filed suit against her former boss, alleges through her legal team that Cuomo is issuing numerous subpoenas in an effort to unearth private information about her.
The disgraced governor is seeking Biaggi's communications with Boylan, including text messages, as well as information from three other women who accused Cuomo of inappropriate conduct. They include Charlotte Bennett, who also filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the former governor. The subpoena also seeks copies of Biaggi’s communications with attorney general James’ office, in addition to any records relating to her accusations about the culture of the governor’s office when she worked there.
Cuomo’s lawyers accused Boylan of getting involved in a case in which she’s not a party, noting that her counsel filed a request asking a judge to quash the subpoena only nine hours after it was served on the former senator.
“Boylan has now sought to block at least eight subpoenas in this litigation to other nonparties,” noted Theresa Trzaskoma, an attorney for Cuomo. “She has done so even where, as with the subpoena to Ms. Biaggi, Ms. Boylan is neither the recipient nor the focus of the subpoena. Not only that, Ms. Boylan, a former candidate for two political offices with an active public life, has no conceivable privacy interest in her communications with a former elected official who is, just like Ms. Boylan, a 'well-known outspoken critic’ of Gov. Cuomo. Discovery into Trooper 1’s allegations cannot come to a screeching halt just because Ms. Boylan says so.”
Trzaskomo told the judge overseeing the case that Boylan lacks standing to file the request on behalf of Biaggi, and that it was “procedurally improper” to do so.
An attorney for Trooper A has opposed many of the subpoenas issued by Cuomo’s attorneys as well, charging that Cuomo “seeks to punish his victims further by peering into their sex lives.”