Councilman calls for probe into city’s handling of Queens principal’s revenge porn case

The city must investigate the Education Department’s botched attempt to fire a former principal who says she’s the victim of revenge porn, a lawmaker says.

City Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) said former Queens Principal Annie Seifullah was victimized by both her ex and the Education Department when a city lawyer displayed Seifullah’s private sex photos at her termination hearing in October.

“There must be an investigation into how the Education Department handled this case,” said Lancman, who sponsored legislation in December that outlawed revenge porn. “The city must protect victims of revenge porn, not shame them.”

Former Robert Wagner High School Principal Seifullah, 39, says her ex planted private sex photos on a work laptop, then gave them to school officials and the media in a plot to ruin her.

A city probe found the photos were “likely” placed on the computer by Seifullah’s ex, former Wagner PTA President Robert Sofia, who denies planting the photos and says he gave them to the media and school officials because Seifullah was having sex with a number of people at her school.

Education officials were unable to substantiate Sofia’s salacious claims. But the city began an administrative trial to fire Seifullah for having the images on her work computer in September anyway, and an arbitrator ruled Dec. 1 that Seifullah should be suspended without pay for a year.

Seifullah’s lawyer Peter Gleason says he’ll appeal the ruling.

Education Department spokesman Doug Cohen said officials redacted Seifullah’s photos and objected to her request for a public trial. “Throughout the trial, (the department) sought to protect the privacy of those involved,” Cohen said. “An independent arbitrator found that Ms. Seifullah violated several (department) policies that warranted a year-long suspension.”