ALBANY – A top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Gareth Rhodes, announced he has left the governor’s coronavirus task force to return to his state job.
Rhodes made the announcement on Twitter.
Rhodes didn’t respond to a request for comment. In a tweet, he said after a year of working the COVID-19 pandemic “it was time” to return to his permanent state job.
Rhodes had become an increasingly high-profile aide to Cuomo during the pandemic. But two sources close to Rhodes said he left in protest, upset at the two sexual harassment accusations lodged at Cuomo.
Cuomo has denied he sexually harassed the women, both former staffers. A third woman said Cuomo made inappropriate advances on her at a wedding at which she and Cuomo both were guests. One source said that alleged incident happened at Rhodes’s wedding.
Other staffers are considering leaving because of the accusations, the sources said. “A lot of people said they have seen enough,” one source said.
Cuomo faces an investigation overseen by state Attorney General Letitia James.
Rhodes has been a top official in the state Financial Services Department and in other capacities for Cuomo.
