One in all Fb’s prime communications managers allegedly helped New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lead a smear marketing campaign towards sexual harassment accuser Lindsey Boylan whereas working for the tech big.
Dani Lever is accused of serving to Cuomo’s employees distribute Boylan’s personnel recordsdata in an effort to discredit her allegations towards the governor. She is claimed to have executed so regardless that she had already began working at Fb, based on the investigative report launched by Legal professional Common Letitia James on Tuesday.
Lever labored on Cuomo’s employees for six years earlier than becoming a member of the social media platform’s communications crew in August 2020.
The smear marketing campaign towards Boylan was launched in December of that 12 months, simply hours after she accused Cuomo of harassment. In response to the report, Lever additionally often participated in discussions about Cuomo’s communications technique following the allegations.
Fb government Dani Lever (proper) is accused of serving to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (middle) lead a smear marketing campaign towards sexual harassment accuser Lindsey Boylan
In a string of tweets on December 13, 2020, Boylan turned the primary girl to publicly announce allegations towards Cuomo.
‘Sure, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many noticed it, and watched,’ she wrote.
Just a few hours later, Boylan’s confidential personnel file, accompanied with a press release from Press Secretary Caitlin Girouard stating saying there was ‘merely no reality’ to her allegations, was distributed to reporters at quite a few media retailers, the AG’s report states.
Though she was now not employed with the governor’s workplace, the report alleges that ‘Lever coordinated with among the reporters who obtained the paperwork to allow them to know that the Govt Chamber can be sending them’.
Members of the Govt Chamber testified that they solely disclosed Boylan’s recordsdata ‘so as to appropriate demonstrably false info’ surrounding the circumstances of her departure from the Chamber.
Nonetheless, one other Cuomo accuser, recognized within the report as Govt Assistant #1, claims to have witnessed the Chamber’s makes an attempt to retaliate towards Boylan.
‘I might be within the room once they have been actively making an attempt to discredit her. They have been actively making an attempt to painting a unique story of it. Attempting to make her seem to be she was loopy and eager to get her personnel file out,’ the previous mentioned.
‘That was the primary time that I had seen somebody publicly come out and saying one thing towards him and sexually harassing them and them going behind the scenes and making an attempt to discredit her.’
Cuomo (pictured) faces allegations from 11 girls who say he sexually harassed them both by touching them, kissing them, hugging them or subjecting them to inappropriate questions or feedback. The governor denies all accusations made towards him
The governor additionally had a ‘crew of advisors from inside and outdoors the Chamber [who] had ongoing and common discussions about how to reply to the allegations publicly’. In response to the report, Lever was an advisor on the crew. It’s unclear if her bosses at Fb had given her permission to work on the second gig.
Amid the try and ‘discredit and disparage’ Boylan, the crew devised a letter outlining complaints towards Boylan from her personnel file and particular interactions between her, Cuomo and different male colleagues. Investigators say the letter additionally accused of Boylan of working with a few of Cuomo’s political adversaries.
Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa reportedly despatched the letter to a number of people asking for his or her signature, together with Lever who declined to signal it as a result of she believed it ‘amounted to ‘sufferer shaming”.
Boylan claimed that Cuomo made inappropriate remarks to her whereas she served on his employees, together with saying ‘let’s play strip poker’ to her whereas on an airplane.
Lever was considered one of a number of people who signed a press release in February 2021 asserting that the change by no means occurred.
‘We have been on every of those October flights and this dialog didn’t occur,’ the assertion learn.
DailyMail.com has contacted Lever and Fb for a remark.
Lever (left) is credited with is accused of coordinating the distribution of Boylan’s (proper) personnel recordsdata to quite a few journalists, in addition to actively making an attempt to ‘discredit’ her. She signed a press release asserting {that a} dialog Boylan alleges she had with Cuomo ‘didn’t occur’
Along with inappropriate remarks, Boylan claims Cuomo bodily touched her on numerous elements of her physique, together with her waist, legs, and again.
Boylan is considered one of 11 girls whose allegations have been backed up within the AG’s 168-page report.
The ladies declare Cuomo sexually harassed them both by touching them, kissing them, hugging them or subjecting them to inappropriate questioning or feedback.
Cuomo denies the entire groping allegations and says he could have been too handsy with hugs and kisses, however that is how he was raised. He says the inappropriate feedback have been supposed as banter and the ladies misinterpreted them.
The governor is now going through three felony investigations in Manhattan, Westchester and Albany – along with an impeachment trial on the State Legislature. A judiciary committee has been tasked with investigating whether or not impeachment is warranted and that probe is underway.
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