Letitia James Accused of Protecting Top Aide From Harassment Allegations - The New York Times

When her office’s probe of intersexual harassment astatine a Manhattan barroom was settled successful July, the New York lawyer general, Letitia James, was wide astir her priorities.

“This colony is simply a reminder that nary substance the perpetrator, we volition not tolerate intersexual harassment,” she said in a statement astir the case, which attracted comparatively small notice. It was 1 of galore she had issued successful which she emphasized the value of believing women’s accounts of harassment.

But caller details from a pistillate who has accused 1 of Ms. James’s apical aides of harassment person raised questions astir whether the lawyer wide lived up to her words erstwhile the accused was one of her closest associates.

The woman, Sofia Quintanar, a erstwhile adjutant to Ms. James, said successful an interrogation that she decided to travel guardant due to the fact that she believed that the lawyer wide was protecting her longtime main of staff, Ibrahim Khan, and withholding immoderate nationalist uncovering of wrongdoing alternatively than aggressively pursuing the investigation.

“I find it conscionable appalling to spot however the bureau handled this publicly,” Ms. Quintanar, 33, told The New York Times successful her archetypal nationalist interrogation astir her enactment with Mr. Khan. She said that she decided to travel guardant due to the fact that she believed that Ms. James’s bureau took much attraction to support Mr. Khan than the women who accused him of abuse, allowing him to softly taxable his resignation successful November with his estimation intact.

In her archetypal ceremonial connection since The Times reported the probe into Mr. Khan connected Friday, Ms. James said that, “I convey the women who came forward, and I privation to guarantee them that they were heard and that I judge them.”

“My bureau treated this substance arsenic aggressively arsenic each different substance that has travel earlier our office,” her connection said. “Within 24 hours, our bureau took disciplinary enactment and enactment Ibrahim Khan nether restrictions, and wrong 72 hours, we engaged an extracurricular instrumentality steadfast that began an impartial and exhaustive reappraisal of the allegations. Mr. Khan resigned portion the probe was inactive ongoing.”

Ms. James said that erstwhile that process had concluded, her bureau spoke with the complainants “and informed them that allegations were substantiated.” She said that she was assured successful the steps her bureau had taken to reappraisal the allegations, “and successful the integrity of the investigation.”

But Ms. Quintanar, who served arsenic a lawman property caput successful the lawyer general’s office, said she believed that its attack to her ailment had been acold little assertive than its attraction of harassment allegations against erstwhile Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Ms. Quintanar said that she was told by the bureau that investigators had substantiated her allegation that Mr. Khan inappropriately touched her and aggressively kissed her against her volition successful November 2021, extracurricular a barroom successful Brooklyn wherever they were attending a governmental fund-raiser.

But Ms. James’s bureau past week lone acknowledged that an “independent, impartial investigation” had been conducted, and that Mr. Khan had “since resigned.”

“Me and the different victims, we merit the aforesaid vindication that was fixed to these different victims that she stood up for,” Ms. Quintanar said, referring to the women who accused Mr. Cuomo of harassment. “It shouldn’t beryllium immoderate antithetic due to the fact that it happened successful her house.”

Ms. Quintanar near her occupation successful Ms. James’s bureau successful 2021 to prosecute a vocation arsenic a run consultant. She decided to be the fund-raiser successful November for Zellnor Myrie, a authorities legislator successful Brooklyn, to drum up concern and reunite with aged friends, recalled Amy Bettys, a person who accompanied Ms. Quintanar to the event.

Ms. Quintanar said that she ran into Mr. Khan not agelong aft she arrived astatine the Someday Bar connected Atlantic Avenue.

They talked implicit drinks astir her astir caller run enactment and Ms. James’s candidacy for governor, which she launched not agelong aft Mr. Cuomo’s resignation and yet abandoned.

The barroom became excessively noisy and Ms. Quintanar and Mr. Khan decided to proceed what she described arsenic a nonrecreational speech astir authorities outside. That’s wherever Ms. Quintanar said that Mr. Khan aggressively grabbed her by her shoulder, pulled her adjacent and “stuck his lingua down my throat.”

“I don’t adjacent cognize however to picture the feeling, honestly, conscionable disappointment successful idiosyncratic that I considered a respected boss, a erstwhile respected brag who conscionable months ago, the Cuomo worldly had conscionable happened to,” Ms. Quintanar said. “And I was conscionable successful axenic shock. We conscionable went done each of this with idiosyncratic else. How tin you deliberation this was OK?”

Ms. Quintanar said she confronted Mr. Khan, a joined father, astir the unwelcome buss earlier heading backmost into the bar. Ms. Bettys said she noticed that Ms. Quintanar seemed upset erstwhile she returned and that Mr. Khan kept trying to talk into Ms. Quintanar’s ear.

Ms. Bettys and Ms. Quintanar soon near the bar, and Ms. Quintanar instantly told Ms. Bettys what had happened.

A lawyer for Mr. Khan, Fran Hoffinger, disputed Ms. Quintanar’s account. “We contradict allegations of wrongdoing and we are not litigating this successful the press,” she said.

Mr. Khan contacted Ms. Quintanar the adjacent day, according to a substance connection reviewed by The Times — a connection that Ms. Quintanar besides sent to the autarkic instrumentality steadfast that Ms. James’s bureau utilized to analyse the harassment allegations. When they yet spoke, Ms. Quintanar said Mr. Khan asked if she had made it location safely.

“I thought helium was calling to apologize but helium conscionable acted similar it didn’t happen,” said Ms. Quintanar.

For months, she told nary 1 other astir the incident.

“There was nary crushed for maine to travel forward. No 1 was determination different than him and I. There was intoxicant involved,” Ms. Quintanar said. “I conscionable thought, who would ever judge my story?”

She concisely had 2nd thoughts aft a person told her that Mr. Khan had been accused of intersexual battle successful the past, and that The New York Post had written astir it. She said she could not retrieve The Post’s article, and decided to “just instrumentality this to the grave.”

But arsenic the months passed, Ms. Quintanar gradually told a tiny fistful of people. She archetypal confided successful a erstwhile workfellow from the lawyer general’s bureau whom she considered a bully friend. The woman, whom The Times is not naming, began to cry. Mr. Khan had besides made unwanted intersexual advances by groping her and kissing her against her will, according to 2 radical acquainted with the accusation.

“And that’s erstwhile I was similar this is not conscionable maine anymore,” Ms. Quintanar said. “There’s a pattern. I’m not the lone person.”

Two months later, Ms. Quintanar recounted the brushwood with Mr. Khan to idiosyncratic she considered a mentor. That idiosyncratic convinced Ms. Quintanar that what happened to her was incorrect and not her responsibility and subsequently arranged for some women to archer their communicative to a governmental advisor for Ms. James. After the advisor spoke with some women, Ms. James was told connected Oct. 2 astir the allegations of harassment, according to the office.

Late connected Monday, the lawyer general’s bureau released a timeline of its handling of the allegations.

On Oct. 3, a time aft Ms. James and the bureau learned of the accusations, the bureau informed Mr. Khan that helium should statesman to enactment remotely; the pursuing day, the bureau enlisted the instrumentality firm, Littler Mendelson, to behaviour an autarkic investigation.

Ms. James’s bureau provided documentation to enactment immoderate portions of that timeline, including an email to Mr. Khan, which was sent connected Oct. 3, and an speech with the instrumentality steadfast that confirmed the day that it was engaged. There was not immoderate authoritative memorialization of erstwhile Ms. James herself learned of the allegations.

The timeline said that Mr. Khan resigned connected Nov. 22 — a enactment with that day from him to the office’s manager of quality resources said that his resignation would instrumentality effect connected Dec. 31 — and that helium ceased to beryllium progressive successful “any authoritative bureau matter” connected Dec. 2, the time The Times reported the allegations.

That aforesaid day, Ms. James’s bureau said that the probe of Mr. Khan had “substantively” concluded, with those who made the allegations notified, and unit astatine the bureau told of Mr. Khan’s resignation.

In a statement, the Sexual Harassment Working Group, an enactment that works to forestall harassment successful authorities politics, said, “We expect the lawyer general’s bureau to grip complaints appropriately and pass efficaciously astir the latest investigation.”

The radical acknowledged that it had been due for Ms. James to support the probe backstage portion it was ongoing, but said that “once an probe is concluded, the nationalist is owed a afloat accounting of the presumption and timeline of events and the findings, prevention for idiosyncratic details to support the victims’ privateness and dignity.”

John Kaehny, the enforcement manager of Reinvent Albany, a good-government group, said that questions astir Ms. James are “not going to spell distant due to the fact that of the sensitivity and the monolithic resonance with the Cuomo probe and her relation and her office’s relation successful that.”

This is not the archetypal clip that allegations of intersexual impropriety person been brought against Mr. Khan, who began moving arsenic Ms. James’s spokesperson during her 2013 run for nationalist advocate, earlier becoming her main of staff.

In 2017, The New York Post reported that a erstwhile worker of the nationalist advocate’s office, wherever Mr. Khan was main of staff, accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her astatine a vacation party. Both the Manhattan territory attorney’s bureau and the city’s Department of Investigation looked into the complaint and past closed the inquiry.

The nonfiction astir Mr. Khan is nary longer disposable connected The Post’s website and the erstwhile worker did not respond to aggregate requests for comments.

The Post, successful a much caller nonfiction astir Mr. Khan, said that the nonfiction was removed due to the fact that the paper learned that the pistillate had not identified Mr. Khan arsenic the idiosyncratic who drugged and assaulted her and that she “had nary representation of who the attacker was.” Iva Benson, a spokeswoman for The Post, declined to remark further.

Ms. Quintanar said she knew she had to beryllium brave and talk retired erstwhile she learned astir the anticipation of much victims. She noted that erstwhile she worked for Ms. James, Ms. Quintanar had written “speeches astir believing women, particularly speeches astir women of color.”

That conscionable made it worse erstwhile she saw Mr. Khan’s cautiously worded connection astir his resignation, which asserted that an probe “found nary authoritative workplace misconduct,” a connection that has not been corroborated by Ms. James’s bureau oregon the extracurricular instrumentality steadfast investigating the allegations.

“To spot however Ibrahim responded by splitting hairs and saying, ‘Oh it wasn’t workplace, it didn’t hap successful the workplace,’ similar that’s expected to marque it better,” she said.

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.