New facts concerning the sexual misconduct charge leveled against former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo before his firing were revealed on Wednesday. This was on the same day the company announced the departure of another top executive.
The New York Times reported in Dec. 2020 that CNN's lawyers received a letter from an attorney for a woman alleging Chris Cuomo had sexually assaulted her years ago. The report outlined how allegations against Cuomo's brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, led to the anchor's firing and network President Jeff Zucker's resignation.
According to the story, the unnamed accuser came forward after Chris Cuomo was suspended from the network on Nov. 30 for assisting Gov. Cuomo in fending off many claims that ultimately ruined his political career.
Employment lawyer Debra Katz said "Jane Doe" had long been outraged by the similarities between the Democrat's accusers' plight and her own.
According to the article, Chris Cuomo, 51, brought the "young" staffer to his office for lunch in 2011 under the guise of providing her guidance on securing full-time employment at the network.
The New York Post said there was no food when the woman arrived. Instead, Cuomo allegedly assaulted "Jane Doe" after she rebuffed his advances.
Reports added that the woman allegedly alerted five friends and former coworkers about the alleged encounter.
Five years later, when #MeToo allegations engulfed television anchors like Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer, Chris Cuomo approached his accuser to produce a favorable piece about her then-employer.
Katz said his contact was intended to test the waters and discourage her from going on the record about his sexual misbehavior.
According to the article, the woman informed some of her friends and former coworkers that Cuomo made unwanted advances toward her.
The accuser told the paper that she was "haunted" by the similarities between her experience with Chris Cuomo and the accusers of the former governor, and that she contacted a lawyer soon after.
The woman had been "seriously traumatized" from the incident. According to Katz's letter to CNN, she wanted to stay anonymous so she wouldn't become a pawn in an internecine fight between Jeff Zucker, Chris Cuomo, and CNN. The events then resulted in the anchor's immediate departure.
CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia, warned employees that an internal probe determined Zucker, Cuomo, and top marketing executive Allison Gollust had broken company regulations while at the network.
The corporation did not specify which policies were broken and how it happened.
Last month, Zucker resigned after admitting to having a romantic involvement with Gollust. He did not declare to the company as required.
Gollust accused WarnerMedia of "an attempt to retaliate against me and distort the media narrative in the aftermath of their poor handling of the last two weeks" in a statement released late Wednesday.
Cuomo, who is apparently seeking a multimillion-dollar payment from WarnerMedia following his firing, encouraged the firm to divulge information of the internal inquiry his controversy provoked in a statement to The Wall Street Journal through a representative late Wednesday.
“It is clear this was never about an undisclosed relationship," the statement read.
"As Mr. Cuomo has stated previously, Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust were not only entirely aware but fully supportive of what he was doing to help his brother," it continued.
"The still open question is when Warner Media is going to release the results of its investigation and explain its supposed basis for terminating Mr. Cuomo," the statement concluded.
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