By Chris Bragg, Akash Mehta and Julia Rock Andrew
Cuomo’s taxpayer-funded defense lawyers are throwing him a fundraiser. New York Focus obtained an invitation to the leading mayoral candidate’s event, scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the Manhattan office of the Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello law firm. The invite was circulated this week to members of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers.Three of the event’s co-hosts — Rita Glavin, Theresa Trzaskoma, and Elkan Abramowitz — defended the former governor against sexual harassment allegations and a federal probe into his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Another, Catherine Foti, defended his top aides, though never Cuomo himself. The fifth — personal injury lawyer Joe Belluck, who who served as a special counsel under former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and shared the list of co-hosts with New York Focus — said he has never represented Cuomo or any state government official.