Roberta Kaplan, the chairwoman of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, has resigned from the organization she helped found amid disclosure of her ties to efforts to squelch accusations of sexual misconduct against embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Kaplan resigned from her post at the organization Monday, writing that her work as an attorney conflicts with her responsibilities as chairwoman of the group that was founded in the wake of the emergence of the #MeToo movement.
Kaplan is currently being accused of working to discredit the efforts of at least one of Cuomo’s accusers — her name makes an appearance in Attorney General Letitia James’ 168-page report, released last week.
“As a result, I cannot offer the degree of transparency about my firm’s matters now being demanded, since that would be contrary to my responsibilities as a lawyer,” wrote Kaplan. “I therefore have reluctantly come to the conclusion that an active law practice is no longer compatible with serving on the Board at Time’s Up at this time and I hereby resign.”
Investigators found that Kaplan reviewed a draft of an opinion letter that attacked Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment. “The draft letter or op-ed attacking Ms. Boylan — particularly when combined with the release of the confidential internal records to the press — constitutes retaliation,” reads the report.
Kaplan appeared to pivot her position on Governor Cuomo in her resignation letter, writing, “Unfortunately, recent events have made it clear that even our apparent allies in the fight to advance women can turn out to be abusers.”
Prior to her resignation, a group of sexual harassment survivors wrote an open letter arguing that the Time’s Up board failed “the survivor community.”
“Time’s Up has abandoned the very people it was supposed to champion,” reads the open letter. “The board continues to fail to heed the outcry from survivors. Time’s Up is failing all survivors.”
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