albany new york the us department of justice began a civil inquiry in august into sexual harassment claims made against former gov andrew cuomo new york officials disclosed thursday the exact nature of the inquiry and its current status was unclear the office of gov kathy hochul who took office when cuomo resigned in august said it hired a law firm in october to handle matters relating to ongoing investigations inherited from the previous administration and that one of those matters was an investigation by the justice departments civil rights division and the us attorneys office in brooklyn as this is an ongoing investigation we will not comment further at this time said hochuls press secretary hazel cramptonhays the law firms hiring was initially disclosed in a contract made public thursday as a result of public records requests by several news organizations the contract said the firm willkie farr and gallagher is representing the governors office in several investigations related to the previous administration including a justice department inquiry related to sexual harassment claims made against the thengovernor cuomo announced he would resign aug 10 one week after an investigative report commissioned by new york attorney general letitia james concluded he had sexually harassed 11 women his last day in office was aug 23 cuomos spokesperson rich azzopardi said the former governor had been made aware of the inquiry our understanding is that the civil division opened an inquiry in august based upon the ags politically motivated sham report and we have heard nothing since he said justice department spokespeople declined to comment the departments civil rights division has some enforcement powers under federal antidiscrimination law it launched an initiative in 2018 to fight sexual harassment of government employees and handles complaints made under the us equal employment opportunity commission cuomo has acknowledged making comments to some women that made them uncomfortable including jokes interpreted as unwanted flirtation but he has denied sexually harassing anyone or touching anyone inappropriately the albany county sheriff filed a criminal complaint against cuomo this fall accusing him of groping a female aide at the governors mansion in late 2020 his arraignment on the charge has been postponed until at least january while the county district attorney investigates the allegations