Another case of a prominent public official taken to task about improper behavior. On Tuesday, May 8, the New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman promptly resigned from office after The New Yorker magazine published an article reporting serious allegations of assault by four women.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas has been appointed by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to investigate allegations that Schneiderman assaulted four women he was romantically linked with. Singas will be working with Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini to investigate the allegations, some of which were said to have occurred in the Hamptons.
“The Governor asked me to investigate these allegations as a special prosecutor, which is a responsibility I take very seriously,” said the Nassau County DA. “We will thoroughly review the facts and the law and take whatever action is appropriate.”
In the interim, Barbara D. Underwood will serve as acting attorney general. Underwood was appointed New York Solicitor General in January 2007. Prior to her appointment she served as Counsel and as Chief Assistant to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. From 1998 to 2001 she was the Acting Solicitor General and Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. She has held executive positions in the Queens and Brooklyn District Attorneys’ Offices, and served as a trial attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
According to a joint letter issued to Acting Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood and Singas from the governor, “Ms. Singas is the former head of the Special Victims’ Bureau at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and the founding member of the Domestic Violence Bureau at the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, so she has specific and extensive expertise in this area.”
Singas has a reputation as a hard hitting attorney who served as Nassau County District Attorney since January 2015 when Kathleen Rice accepted the position as Congresswoman. Singas was elected to her position in November and continued to prosecute all manners of crimes.
When asked about the investigation being launched Singas responded “this is a sensitive and ongoing investigation, I cannot comment on the substance of our review.
