Former New York governor charged with sexual offenses

A state court spokesperson said Thursday that a criminal complaint formally accusing former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of a sexual offense has been filed in court in Albany, the state capital.

“Since this is a sexual offence, a draft complaint will be filed shortly,” spokesman Lucien Chalvin said in an email statement.

Representatives for the 63-year-old Cuomo, who resigned more than two months ago as pressure and calls for his resignation mount – even from US President Joe Biden – were not immediately contacted for comment.

A copy of the complaint posted online by New York’s WNBC-TV states that Cuomo committed the crime of “forced touching” on December 7, 2020, at the governor’s executive mansion by “putting his hand under the victim’s shirt … the intimate part.”

The document goes on to describe that Cuomo groped a woman’s breasts “for the purpose of satisfying her sexual desires”, but the woman’s name is omitted.

A week before Cuomo’s resignation, Brittany Commisso filed a criminal complaint with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office alleging that the then-governor had felt her breasts at the Executive Palace in Albany last year.