The New York state trooper suing Andrew Cuomo for allegedly groping her added the disgraced former governor’s spokesman to her lawsuit on Friday after he took to Twitter to accuse the law firm representing her of “extortion.”
The woman, only identified as “Trooper 1,” alleged in the initial lawsuit filed Thursday that Cuomo “violated” her rights when he groped her in 2019 — and that his longtime aide Melissa DeRosa helped cover it up.
The amended complaint — filed in the Eastern District of New York by the trooper’s legal team, Wigdor LLP — now also includes Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, after he retaliated on social media.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being sued by a state trooper who says he violated her rights by groping her. He denies any wrongdoing. REUTERS
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi is also being sued by the state trooper after he accused her of “extortion” on Twitter. AP
Melissa DeRosa, an aide to disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is also being sued by the state trooper, who accuses her of helping him cover up his misdeeds. ZUMAPRESS.com“True to form, immediately after Trooper 1 filed this action, the Governor’s spokesman, Defendant Richard Azzopardi, published false statements once again accusing Trooper 1 of the crime of extortion,” the amended complaint said.
“These bullying tactics by the Governor and his enablers were retaliatory and intended to dissuade the Governor’s victims, including Trooper 1, from pursuing their legal rights.”
Azzopardi had tweeted a statement on behalf of Cuomo on Thursday night attacking the trooper’s allegations in the initial complaint.
The state trooper is accusing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and those around him of engaging in “bullying tactics.” AP“This law firm is widely known to use the press to extort settlements on behalf of ‘anonymous claimants’ — that is Un-American and will not happen here,” Azzopardi wrote in the tweet.
“Gov Cuomo will fight every attempt at cheap cash extortions and is anxious to have the dirty politics stop — we look forward to justice in a court of law.”
The alleged incident involving the trooper was detailed in Attorney General Letitia James’ bombshell sexual harassment report that resulted in Cuomo resigning in August last year.
Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute him over the trooper’s allegations.
“This claim relies on the AG’s proven fraud of a report, as demonstrated by the five district attorneys who, one by one – Democrat and Republican – looked at its findings and found no violations of law,” Azzopardi added in his initial tweet.
“If kissing someone on the cheek, patting someone on the back or stomach or waving hello at a public event on New Year’s Eve is actionable then we are all in trouble,” he said.
Less than two hours later, the law firm’s founding partner Douglas Wigdor sent Azzopardi a LinkedIn message demanding he retract the extortion statement — or they would file for defamation.
Azzopardi tweeted a screenshot of the message, saying: “Just got this. More threats.”
In a statement on Friday, Azzopardi said: “To be clear: I’m not afraid of these ambulance-chasing hucksters. This is clearly protected free speech that is supported by actual facts; and while I’m no lawyer there is no way this thing against me is not going to get laughed out of court.”
The state trooper’s attorneys emailed Rich Azzopardi to retract his “extortion” comment or warned that they would sue for defamation. Azzopardi responded by saying the email just contained “more threats.”
The amended complaint argues that Azzopardi’s alleged retaliation on behalf of his boss has caused the trooper to suffer “humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, loss of self-esteem and self-confidence, and emotional pain and suffering.”
The trooper is seeking damages from Cuomo, DeRosa and Azzopardi — as well as a declaratory judgment that they “violated federal, state, and civil laws.”
DeRosa’s attorney, Paul Schectman, said the claims in the suit are meritless.
“We are only aware of this case from Twitter, but according to the trooper’s own testimony Melissa’s only interaction with her was to say ‘hello and goodbye’,” Schectman said in a statement. “It is not a viable case anywhere in America and is beyond frivolous.”
