A new report states that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign received $25,000 from the law firm whose attorney, David Boies, represented Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein; that occurred at roughly the same time Cuomo stopped an investigation into how Weinstein’s case was handled.
As David Sirota writes at Capital & Main, last March Cuomo urged the New York Attorney General’s office to investigate the handling of the case involving accusations that Weinstein groped an Italian model. Cuomo stated:
It is critical not only that these cases are given the utmost attention but also that there is public confidence in the handling of these cases. Therefore, I have directed the Attorney General to begin a review of the 2015 case in a way that does not interfere with the current investigation and, at the conclusion of the Manhattan District Attorney’s current investigation, to review the entire matter and report to me on its findings.
But on Tuesday, BuzzFeed reported that Cuomo “ordered the New York Attorney General’s Office to suspend its investigation into whether Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. mishandled 2015 allegations of sexual misconduct against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.”
According to the International Business Times, Boies gave $10,000 to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. in 2015, in the months after Vance’s office decided to eschew prosecuting Weinstein over sexual assault allegations. Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaigns have received over $245,000 from Boies and his law firm since 2009.
With Cuomo suspending the investigation, Boies could escape an investigation of the connection between his 2015 donation to Vance and Vance deciding to eschew prosecuting Weinstein.
Sirota writes, “Boies has since severed his ties to Weinstein in the wake of a report that he personally hired the private intelligence company Black Cube to collect information on Weinstein’s accusers and the reporters investigating those allegations.”
Cuomo’s press secretary, Dani Lever, told Buzzfeed, “As we said when the Governor directed the Attorney General to investigate the Manhattan DA’s Office, it should not interfere with the DA’s ongoing criminal case.”