Metro

Gropez’s victims set to $lap ‘sorry’ Silver

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Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver may have apologized this week for botching the Vito Lopez sex-harassment scandal — but now he’s really going to be sorry.

Two of Lopez’s victims plan to sock Silver with a negligence suit after two reports released last week accused him of covering up earlier sex-harass complaints against the Brooklyn ex-assemblyman by means of a confidential settlement.

“My clients are actively considering [suing Silver] and now that the investigations have concluded we would expect a decision about it in the near future,” said attorney Kevin Mintzer, who represents former Lopez staffers Chloe Rivera and Victoria Burhans.

“The [Joint Commission on Public Ethics] report and the Staten Island district attorney’s investigation clearly show that my clients would not have been sexually harassed had the Assembly and the speaker properly responded to the first complaints,” Mintzer said.

The scathing, 70-page JCOPE report found that Lopez gave women in his office cash to buy sexy clothes, tried to share hotel rooms, ordered massages and in some cases groped them.

JCOPE and Staten Island DA Dan Donovan — who did not charge Lopez with a crime — also excoriated Silver for paying a $103,000 hush-money settlement to two women who complained to the Assembly, but never fowarded the complaints to the Assembly Ethics Committee to investigate.

Donovan even suggested that Silver violated the Assembly’s sex-harassment policy by failing to report the matter.

Mintzer’s clients — who were not part of the initial settlement — later complained formally to the Assembly Ethics Committee about Lopez’s harassment, which forced Silver to strip Lopez of his leadership post and make the case public last summer.

Lopez resigned from the Assembly Monday and plans to run for the City Council this fall.

A source familiar with the scandal said Silver — who on Monday said he now plans to ban hush-money payoffs — could be liable for enabling Lopez by covering up the first two complaints.

“Our clients made multiple efforts — over and over again — to get the Assembly to pay attention to their serious complaints,” said Gloria Allred, who represents two women who accepted hush money.

“They called Human Resources . . . They then followed the instructions of the HR point person, and sent in their complaints in writing repeatedly Those complaints started in early December 2012. . . . Nothing was done,” Allred said.

Silver responded, “This is not a back-and-forth with people who have a financial interest in trying to promote whatever negativity they can promote,” he said.

Meanwhile, several of the Democratic Assembly members who dutifully stood behind Silver on Monday admitted that they hadn’t even read the JCOPE report.

But one ally, Harlem Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, said he didn’t think he needed to. “The speaker spoke and I stand for what he says,” Farrell said.

Bronx Assemblywoman Carmen E. Arroyo even blamed the victims for not complaining in person to Silver.

“What I think is that those girls didn’t come directly to him at the very beginning — they should! If something like that happened to me, I would go to the top immediately. It’s my way of thinking,” Arroyo said.

Asked if she would want her daughters to work for Lopez, she said she “would teach them how to defend themselves.”