NEW YORK (AP) — A female who accused a former best adviser to New York Legal professional Normal Letitia James of unwanted kissing submitted a lawsuit Tuesday alleging the Democrat and her business office ignored former warnings about his habits.
Sofia Quintanar, a political advisor and previous deputy push secretary in James’ office, alleges former Chief of Team Ibrahim Khan thrust his encounter in entrance of hers and “stuck his tongue down her throat” as they ended up chatting exterior a political fundraiser at a Brooklyn bar final year.
Khan resigned Dec. 2, about two months immediately after Quintanar first lodged her complaint with the attorney general’s business office about his habits. He has denied wrongdoing.
In her lawsuit, Quintanar alleges that James and her business office ended up conscious that Khan had a “propensity to sexually harass and to dedicate sexual assaults” and they had been negligent in employing and supervising him.
Quintanar experienced earlier credited James’ workplace for taking swift action right after she claimed the incident, telling the New York Put up previous 7 days that her issue “has hardly ever been with Legal professional Standard Letitia James or how the investigation was dealt with.”
A message searching for comment was still left with Khan’s law firm.
James’ workplace mentioned in a assertion that it “took the allegations brought to our office very seriously and engaged in decisive, prompt, and acceptable action.”
Khan experienced been just one of James’ closest confidantes for nearly a decade, relationship to her thriving campaign for New York City general public advocate in 2013. The allegations against him are a exceptional disaster for the Democrat. Final 12 months, James oversaw a sexual harassment probe that led to previous Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation. Just after that, she briefly ran for governor before opting for reelection. Some Cuomo allies and point out Republicans now want her investigated.
Right after Quintanar documented Khan’s alleged forcible kissing to James’ reelection marketing campaign in Oct, the legal professional general’s workplace employed a regulation agency to examine her allegations, and claims by a different lady who had formerly worked for James.
Khan was instructed to keep home throughout the investigation, which began in the last months of James’ effective reelection campaign. In a Nov. 22 memo, Khan wrote that he would be leaving for a non-public sector job at the finish of the calendar year, but he departed instantly after the allegations have been substantiated.
Quintanar, in her lawsuit, indicates James’ business office was masking for Khan — telling reporters that he was on family vacation or checking out a unwell relative while he was less than investigation — and attempting to give him a smooth exit.
The lawsuit was filed in condition court less than New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily sets apart time limitations to convey lawsuits for grownups who had been sexually assaulted. Her lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, spelled out that was performed for the reason that the accusations say the assault transpired just over and above the a single-yr statute of limitations.
Quintanar mentioned she was torn about reporting Khan, and waited virtually a yr to do so, because she feared he would use his electric power to hurt her profession. Eventually, she reported, Khan did use his power against her by blocking her from acquiring a job as a communications strategist for James’ marketing campaign. That, she said, prompted her to arrive forward.
Quintanar alleges Khan assaulted her in November 2021 whilst James and other distinguished Brooklyn Democrats had been inside the bar attending a political fundraiser.
Quintanar claimed she went to the celebration, in portion, due to the fact she was wanting for a new position immediately after helping Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown get reelection and was hoping to network with men and women who could enable her locate perform. She was not doing work for James or her campaign at the time.
Following Khan started out kissing her, Quintanar mentioned she pushed Khan away, inquiring him, “Aren’t you married?” and “Don’t you have young children? What are you executing?”
Quintanar explained a political make contact with afterwards informed her that Khan experienced a “sketchy” reputation and alerted her to a prior allegation, in a because-deleted New York Post short article, that he experienced drugged and sexually assaulted a girl at a bash when performing at the general public advocate’s workplace in 2017.
The Post, in a recent post, claimed the former tale was eliminated because the accuser “had not in fact identified Khan as the human being who drugged and assaulted her, and that she had said she experienced no memory of who the attacker was.”
The New York Situations claimed that the the allegation in depth in the Article article was investigated by each the Manhattan district lawyer and a city watchdog company, but that neither introduced prices.
Quintanar said she submitted the lawsuit with the hope of growing “the visibility and energy of ladies of coloration acquiring a voice in the #MeToo motion.”
“We are less probably to occur forward in these circumstances simply because those in positions of ability have historically assumed significantly less of us,“ Quintanar claimed. ”While I anxiety the outcome that this might have on my profession, I know that concern really should never ever stand in the way of doing what is ideal.”
James issued a assertion very last week defending her office’s managing of the make a difference, stating she is “confident in the techniques that have been taken to quickly review the allegations and in the integrity of the investigation.”
“I thank the girls who arrived forward, and I want to guarantee them that they ended up listened to and that I consider them,” James explained.
The AP does not generally identify persons who say they have been sexually assaulted until they grant permission, as Quintanar has performed.
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