Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN soon after being accused of sexually harassing a former ABC News temp worker years earlier, The New York Times reports.
Cuomo was fired from the network Dec. 4 after details emerged on how he assisted his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as the politician faced sexual harassment allegations of his own earlier this year.
The Times reported Tuesday night that soon after former CNN President Jeff Zucker suspended Cuomo on Nov. 30, the network received a letter from a lawyer representing a woman who had worked with the host at ABC News.
The letter, addressed to CNN general counsel David Vigilante, accused Chris Cuomo of badgering the temporary employee for sex in 2011 after inviting her to lunch in his office. He allegedly had offered the woman career advice the previous day.
The Times said it interviewed five of the woman's friends and saw messages between the accuser and Chris Cuomo.
The woman told friends and former colleagues that Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests, the Times reported. It was only in the past year that the woman told people the host had assaulted her.
Attorney Debra Katz’s letter to CNN also said Cuomo contacted the woman out of the blue at the height of the #MeToo movement that cost TV personalities such as Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer their jobs, the Times reported.
Cuomo suggested CNN do a segment about the company where the woman worked doing public relations.
"After years without any substantive communication from Mr. Cuomo whatsoever, Ms. [Jane] Doe suspected he was concerned about her coming forward publicly with her allegations and wanted to use the proposed segment as an opportunity to 'test the waters' and discourage her from going on the record about his sexual misconduct," Katz wrote.
CNN eventually broadcast a segment, though the woman tried to avoid any contact with Cuomo.
Katz said the woman, "deeply traumatized," doesn’t want to become "a pawn in an internecine war between Zucker, Chris Cuomo and CNN" and won’t be saying anything further. She "deserves and requests privacy," the letter added.
A report earlier this month said CNN parent company AT&T was mulling paying $9 million to Chris Cuomo as a settlement over his exit and rancorous feud with the network.
Zucker announced his resignation Feb. 2 after revealing that he had a relationship with a senior network executive.
After acknowledging her relationship with Zucker, Allison Gollust resigned as CNN executive vice president and chief marketing officer on Tuesday.
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