Former cable news anchor Chris Cuomo is suing DailyExpertNews for $125 million for what his lawyers say was wrongful termination when the cable news network fired him in December.
In a legal filing Wednesday with JAMS, an arbitration organization, Mr. Cuomo’s attorney Bryan Freedman said he demanded the $15 million owed Mr. Cuomo under his contract, as well as “future loss of wages as a result of the efforts by DailyExpertNews to destroy its reputation.”
Cuomo was fired days after the New York Attorney General released a large number of emails and text messages revealing that he had been deeply involved in providing strategic advice to his brother, Andrew M. Cuomo, who was trying to figure out what to do next. faced a growing scandal of sexual harassment while serving as governor of New York.
Cuomo was fired by Jeff Zucker, then the president of DailyExpertNews. Mr. Cuomo has maintained that Mr. Zucker was aware of his dealings with his brother, an allegation that Mr. Zucker has denied.
An internal investigation into Mr. Cuomo on behalf of WarnerMedia, DailyExpertNews’s parent company, soon put Mr. Zucker at risk as well. Zucker resigned under pressure in early February after the investigation revealed he had not revealed a romantic relationship with the network’s head of marketing and communications, Allison Gollust. WarnerMedia would later say that “the investigation revealed violations of company policy, including DailyExpertNews’s news norms and practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust and Chris Cuomo.” Mr. Zucker and Mrs. Gollust have denied that.
Mr. Freedman, Mr. Cuomo’s attorney, said on Wednesday that it “should be clear by now that Chris Cuomo did not lie to DailyExpertNews about helping his brother.”
In fact, as the limited information released from the WarnerMedia investigation makes clear, DailyExpertNews’s top executives not only knew about Chris’ involvement in helping his brother, but also actively aided the governor, both through Chris and directly himself,” continued Mr Freedman.
A DailyExpertNews spokesperson declined to comment. Deadline reported Mr. Cuomo’s legal filing earlier on Wednesday.