A rep for Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday counter-sued the state trooper and her lawyers who accused his ex-governor boss of sex harassment, claiming they illegally targeted him over his role as a spokesman.
The suit, filed by Richard Azzopardi in Manhattan state Supreme Court, said the woman, only identified as “Trooper 1” in her case, and her lawyers at the firm Wigdor LLP engaged in “malicious prosecution” by adding him to their lawsuit against Cuomo.
Azzopardi, who is known for issuing combative statements on behalf of Cuomo, was named as a defendant in their suit after he issued a statement slamming the law firm’s credibility.
Lawyers for Wigdor have regularly handled high-profile cases, including that of Cassie Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs who accused him of abuse.
Azzopardi released one disparaging statement about the firm Feb. 17, 2022, after Widgor filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court on behalf of the trooper, who has claimed Cuomo “violated” her while in office.
The former governor denies wrongdoing.
Azzopardi alleged at the time that the law firm was “widely known to use the press to extort settlements on behalf of ‘anonymous claimants’ – that is Un-American and will not happen here. 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.”
Doug Wigdor then wrote to Azzopardi demanding a retraction and vowing to file a defamation suit against Azzopardi and Cuomo and add retaliation claims to the suit.
Wigdor ended up adding a retaliation claim against Azzopardi and Cuomo but did not sue Azzopardi, Azzopardi’s counter-suit said.
Judge DeArcy Hall eventually dismissed the complaint against Azzopardi and removed it from the case in a ruling July 12.
But Azzopardi, who has since started his own public-relations firm, lost clients and business thanks to the “frivolous” suit, court papers claim.
“Defendants were successful in harming Azzopardi. As a direct result of the amended federal complaint, Azzopardi lost business and clients,” Azzopardi’s lawyers, Neal Brickman and Ethan Leonard, said in the civil suit.
“Both existing and prospective clients terminated, or decided not to complete, agreed upon contracts with Azzopardi and his recently opened business citing, as a basis, the existence of the amended federal complaint.
“That filing indubitably impaired Azzopardi’s professional reputation and caused Azzopardi to lose material numbers of as yet unidentified additional clients – exactly as Defendants intended,” they said.
In an interesting footnote, Azzopardi’s lawyers said they reserve the right to amend their complaint and use trooper’s name if the court rules to unmask her identity.
“This is the latest attempt to silence one of Andrew Cuomo’s victims and interfere with her rights,” said Widgor lawyer Valdi Licul in a statement about Azzopardi’s suit.
“As set forth in Trooper 1’s recently-filed complaint, Mr. Cuomo, often through his spokesman Richard Azzopardi, has lobbed threats at anyone who has sought to hold Mr. Cuomo to account for creating what federal and state authorities have repeatedly found to be a hostile work environment for women. We will not be deterred by this latest desperate tactic.”
Azzopardi said the state is not bankrolling his lawsuit.
The state paid out more than $25 million to reimburse Cuomo and other state aides for their legal defense expenses in sexual-harassment and other cases.
Cuomo resigned in disgrace in August 2021 after a damning investigative report commissioned by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office substantiating harassment claims made by a slew of female employees against the ex-governor, including from Trooper 1.
Cuomo has denied the claims and is mulling a political comeback, including a potential run for New York City mayor.
