Singas on AG Schneiderman probe: ‘No stone unturned’
Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, the special prosecutor investigating physical abuse allegations against former State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, pledged Thursday to conduct a thorough, fair and swift probe.
She said the investigation would examine a report published in The New Yorker magazine that Schneiderman assaulted four past romantic partners, as well as allegations that Schneiderman used his office to threaten or harass women.
“We will treat this case the same as we do all cases,” Singas said. “There will be no stone unturned.”
Singas, whom Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo appointed Tuesday as a special prosecutor in the case, made her remarks at a Manhattan news conference with Cuomo, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini.
Schneiderman on Monday announced his resignation within hours of publication of the The New Yorker article.
Singas said if she chooses to bring criminal charges, she would be constrained by the state’s statute of limitations: A year for a violation, two years for a misdemeanor and five years for a felony.
“We will gather the evidence that is necessary,” Singas said. “We will analyze that evidence. We will analyze the laws of New York State to see when we can bring charges, if we can bring charges.”
Asked by a reporter what charges can be brought in abuse cases, Singas said they included harassment, assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, obstruction of breathing and strangulation.
She said she wanted “anyone with information” to call a special hotline: 516-287-3938.
Cuomo praised Singas’ prosecutorial experience, noting she helped found a domestic violence unit while working in the Queens district attorney’s office, and a special victims unit in Nassau.
“No one is above the law,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said he believed Schneiderman “disgraced” and “dishonored” the attorney general’s office.
Sini will help Singas by investigating a woman’s accusation, described in The New Yorker, that Schneiderman slapped her in 2016 at a Hamptons house.
Sini, who had announced an investigation Tuesday into Schneiderman before Singas’ appointment, will turn over his findings to Singas, Cuomo said.
“No one is above the law, even those individuals who placed their hand on a Bible and sweared to uphold it,” Sini said.
Although the NYPD’s chief of detectives, Dermot Shea, said Tuesday that no case could proceed without an accuser pressing charges, Singas on Thursday said of the issue: “At this juncture it’s too early to tell.”
Vance had said his office would investigate the allegations, but Cuomo earlier in the week ordered Singas to take over and “displace and supersede the jurisdiction.” Cuomo said Vance had a possible conflict of interest: Schneiderman’s investigation into why Vance’s office had not brought harassment charges against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. In that case, an Italian model had filed a complaint but Vance’s office found insufficient evidence to prosecute.
Vance, on Tuesday, wrote to Cuomo: “the only potential conflict here is one of your creation: your recent directive that the AG’s office review, among other things, a 2015 investigation of Harvey Weinstein by my office and the NYPD.”
Cuomo’s lawyer, in turn, said Vance had lost the confidence of feminist groups.
But on Thursday, Vance said, “I stand with my DA partners,” and that he shared Cuomo’s concerns about a perception of a conflict of interest.
“Perhaps,” Vance said, “I was a little frustrated when the ground rules changed, but that said, I completely understand the governor’s decision and the public deserves to have confidence that there is no conflict involved.”
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 15: LI's top basketball players On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Newsday's Gregg Sarra and Matt Lindsay take a look top boys and girls basketball players on Long Island.
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