A former New York City Hall employee sued the city’s mayor, Eric Adams, on Monday, accusing him of having sexually assaulted her in 1993, when they both worked in the transit office and she turned to him for help coping with a hostile environment at work.
Lorna Beach-Mathura alleged in the civil complaint that Adams, then a traffic officer, assaulted her in his car when it was parked along the Hudson River after promising to take her home to talk about her career problems. The woman has indicated that her now mayor used her position to demand sexual acts from her in exchange for helping her get a promotion that she had previously denied him.
As described in Beach-Mathura’s account, she rejected his advances and withdrew her hand when Adams forcibly placed it on her exposed genitals before masturbating to climax and ejaculating on her inside the vehicle. She says she then dropped her off at a subway station.
According to Beach-Mathura, Adams was also behind her subsequent transfer to another department where she lost seniority and was forced to leave her job during layoffs “in retaliation for refusing her quid pro quo sexual demands.”
The plaintiff relied on Adams to help her because of his role at the time as a police department officer and leader of the New York Police Department Guardians Association, a fraternal group that advocates for equality and fair treatment for black employees, according to the lawsuit. Hence, she has included both entities in the negligence lawsuit. She has also denounced all defendants for gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and enabling a crime of gender-based violence.
Adams strongly denied the allegations in a statement issued by his legal team. “As we review the complaint, the Mayor strongly denies these outrageous allegations and the facts described herein; we look forward to full vindication in court,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix.
Thus, he added that “Adams was one of the most prominent public opponents of racism within the NYPD, which is why the lawsuit’s accusations that he had any influence over the promotions of civilian employees are ridiculous.”
For her part, attorney Megan Goddard, who filed the lawsuit, stressed that her client “knew that filing this lawsuit would cause him significant personal challenges, but he did it anyway because he believes that sexual abusers must be held accountable, regardless of who they are.”
This lawsuit takes place after the woman filed a challenge in November 2023 before the New York County Supreme Court under the Adult Survivors Act. Adams then denied the allegations and stated that she did not know the plaintiff.
