A former staffer who accused ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment has withdrawn her federal lawsuit against him, according to court records.
A voluntary notice of dismissal without prejudice was filed on Monday, Dec. 9 by attorneys for Charlotte Bennett, who filed suit against her onetime boss in 2022.
Bennett dropped her lawsuit on the eve of her deposition, Bennett's attorney, Debra Katz of Katz Banks Kumin wrote in a release.
Richard Azzopardi, a rep for Cuomo, praised Bennett's decision, saying that her claims "falsely smeared" the former governor "for years."
"Ms. Bennett's decision to drop her baseless lawsuit should be viewed as a complete capitulation and a desperate attempt to avoid being confronted with the mountains of exculpatory discovery – including contemporaneous texts and videos that the AG’s office never obtained – that completely refute her claims against Governor Cuomo," he said, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"After falsely smearing Governor Cuomo for years, Ms. Bennett suddenly withdrew her federal lawsuit on the eve of her deposition to avoid having to admit under oath that her allegations were false, and her claims had no merit," he said. "If New York State does give in to her public pressure campaign and settles, it will not be on the merits and should require the public release of all the evidence so that New Yorkers finally know the truth: Governor Cuomo never sexually harassed anyone."
In a statement posted on their website, Bennett’s attorneys said they opted to dismiss the case to end Cuomo’s continued harassment of their client.
"Mr. Cuomo has used these legal proceedings to punish Ms. Bennett and others who reported his sexual harassment, and to cause more harm to her, all at the expense of New York taxpayers," Katz wrote. "In dismissing the federal case we thus hope that our client will be able to resolve this dispute and finally be made whole for all the damage Mr. Cuomo and his agents caused her."
Her attorneys said that Bennett will continue "seeking justice" with a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit against New York State.
A Jan 2022 opinion report from The Washington Post pointed to Bennett's alleged history of falsifying sexual harassment reports.
A 2017 federal lawsuit was dropped against a fellow student at New York's Hamilton College. Bennett was later identified as a student.
According to the complaint in John Doe v. Hamilton College, "Sally Smith" — Bennett’s pseudonym — filed the claim against the plaintiff "knowing it was false, and knowing there was evidence of its falsity."
The suit also alleged that there was a recording in which "Smith" stated that "Doe" "did not sexually assault her."