Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer claims the bombshell sex assault allegations that derailed his 2021 mayoral campaign were part of a dirty tricks operation hatched by political operatives working for businessman Andrew Yang.
Stringer, who is suing his accuser Jean Kim for defamation, claimed that a political consultant working for Yang and his failed mayoral campaign even presented him with a mea culpa last year, according to court documents.
Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer claims the bombshell sex assault allegations that derailed his 2021 mayoral campaign were part of a dirty tricks operation hatched by political operatives working for businessman Andrew Yang.
He is now seeking to add bigwig consulting firm Tusk Strategies and its eponymous owner Bradley Tusk to his lawsuit against Kim, the Manhattan Supreme Court filings show.
Stringer claims that last March, the unnamed Yang campaign consultant told him — after reading a New York Times story about the #MeToo movement — that “Tusk manufactured each of the defamatory statements” that upended his “then-surging” campaign.
The former comptroller claims that he “vetted the information [the consultant] provided to confirm its accuracy,” according to the court docs.
Stringer also noted his lawyers attempted to resolve his claims with Tusk directly, which failed.
Former NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer in court during a hearing in his lawsuit against Jean Kim, who accused him of sexual assaults. William Farrington for NY PostA lawyer representing Kim in April 2021 leveled allegations that Stringer “groped her, repeatedly touched her sexually without her consent [and] made multiple sexual advances toward her which she rejected.”
Kim also held a news conference at which she accused Stringer of repeatedly asking, “Why won’t you f–k me?” while she was an unpaid intern on his 2001 campaign for public advocate.
“This is a continuation of the harassment against me,” Kim told The Post in court on Tuesday, standing next to her husband. She has been representing herself in the case due to “financial hardships,” according to filings from 2024.
“I have never met Bradley Tusk or been in the same room as him,” Kim told Judge Brendan Lantry, calling the proceeding “a waste of taxpayers’ time.”
But Lantry agreed to let Stringer add Tusk and his company to the suit.
The former comptroller was mum, but his attorney Milton Williams said they were willing to “take this case to the very end in an effort to right the wrong that was done to Mr. Stringer, his wife and his family.”
“Nobody at Tusk has ever met Jean Kim,” said Chris Coffey, CEO of Tusk Strategies and former co-campaign director of Yang’s failed mayoral bid.
Coffey claimed that Kim had spoken about her allegations against Stringer for years before the mayoral race.
“Scott is a desperate man at the end of a sad career. He’s either lying to himself or to the court. Either way, it’s sad and typical of a politician who can’t get off the stage,” Coffey said.
Shortly before the allegations surfaced, a NY1/Ipsos poll showed Stringer in third place ahead of the Democratic mayoral primary, with 11% of likely voters saying he was their first pick. About two weeks after Kim’s news conference, that number dropped to 9%.
On Election Day, Stringer wound up with just 5.5% of the first-round votes, putting him in fifth place before he was eliminated in the ranked-choice contest that was won by Mayor Eric Adams.
