Metro

Comptroller DiNapoli’s office drafted Vito Lopez ‘hu$h’ deal, documents show

WHO, ME? Memos (left) show that aides to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (right) were in on the Lopez deal. (
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State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office was extensively involved in drafting the secret $103,000 agreement to settle sexual-harassment claims filed against Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez, according to explosive new documents released yesterday.

DiNapoli previously insisted that the confidential Lopez settlement — approved by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — had not been brought to his personal attention by staffers.

But correspondence between lawyers for the comptroller and Assembly speaker, released yesterday to the media, shows that DiNapoli’s staff was consulted about the harassment claims against Lopez on March 27 — more than two months before the settlement was reached.

The comptroller’s top lawyers went on to provide formal advice to Silver’s legal staff on how to financially craft the settlement.

In a June 4 e-mail, DiNapoli’s assistant counsel, Mary Anne Tommaney, sent Assembly lawyers proposed language for the settlement, recommending that the deal with Lopez’s accusers should be paid as “compensatory damages” for “emotional distress and pain and suffering claimed by the employees” rather than as back pay or salary.

In her e-mails, Tommaney does not refer to Lopez or his accusers by name, simply referring to the agreement as “resolving an employment dispute involving two Assembly staff members.”

Tommaney said one of Lopez’s female employees had been subject to more “egregious harassment” than the other.

In a June 7 memo, William Collins, chief counsel in Silver’s office, writes a handwritten note to DiNapoli’s chief counsel Nancy Groenwegen, lauding her staffers’ work in drafting the Lopez settlement approved by Silver.

“We finished the deal with help, as noted, from John [Dalton] and Maryann [Tommaney] . . . I’m happy this will be wrapped up soon,” he wrote.

The Comptroller’s Office processed the $103,080 request for payment by the Assembly. The invoice only lists the name of one of the law firms of the alleged victims, but not the staffers.

In a statement yesterday, DiNapoli’s office defended its actions. “The comptroller’s legal staff was not a party to the negotiations, nor did it evaluate the merits of the settlement,” said DiNapoli spokesman Eric Sumberg.

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan and the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics are investigating all aspects of the Lopez sex scandal — including the roles of Silver and the offices of DiNapoli and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Additional reporting by Josh Margolin