Special prosecutor appointed in Schneiderman probe

ALBANY —  Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas has accepted her appointment to lead the criminal investigation of ex-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for domestic abuse , effectively ending a squabble between Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Singas, joined at a press conference in Manhattan Thursday by Cuomo, Vance and Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini, vowed to thoroughly investigate allegations that the former attorney general hit, spit on, and threatened four women, and to leave "no stone unturned."

Singas praised Vance and noted her own extensive expertise in prosecuting domestic violence cases. In the Queens district attorney's office, she was a founding member of the domestic violence unit, which she says pioneered evidence-based investigative strategies. Later, she was invited to start the first special victims bureau in Nassau County.

"I have overseen, in my career as a prosecutor, thousands of cases involving domestic abuse, involving assault, involving sexual abuses. I am very well-versed in this area of law, and I intend to bring integrity to this case, as I do in all cases," Singas said.

Singas will also be investigating whether Schneiderman used his government position to intimidate or threaten his accusers.

"If at any time, he used his office or the office's resources in furtherance of the alleged crimes, then that's something we would look at," Singas said.

Schneiderman announced his resignation Monday evening, just three hours after The New Yorker published a bombshell article detailing the abuse allegations and naming two of his accusers.

Cuomo's announcement Tuesday that he had appointed Singas to oversee a criminal investigation of Schneiderman sparked a war of words between Vance and the governor's office about Cuomo's decision.

District attorneys also privately debated Cuomo's use of his executive power to override prosecutorial jurisdiction and appoint a special prosecutor for the Schneiderman case after Vance and Sini had already announced they would begin probes into the former attorney general's alleged abused, which involved incidents in Manhattan and Suffolk County.

Cuomo said he pushed Vance off the Schneiderman case because the attorney general's office is currently investigating the Manhattan district attorney's handling of a 2015 sexual misconduct case involving movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Vance, in a letter to Cuomo, maintained that the governor should have never injected the attorney general's office into the Weinstein case, calling it an "unwarranted intrusion by an elected executive into a charging decision by an independent prosecutor."

On Thursday, Vance walked back his criticism.

"After having the opportunity to talk with the governor, and after talking with Madaline Singas, I thought the better course was to not slow things down or cloud the issues by making legal arguments," Vance said.

At the press conference, Cuomo praised Vance, calling his office "one of the most respected district attorney's offices in the country," but said that he was concerned about a "perception" of a conflict of interest given the Weinstein matter.

"In some ways, it doesn't matter what I think, and it doesn't matter what District Attorney Cy Vance thinks. There are two sides to the equation and it's important that the public has total confidence in our justice system," Cuomo said.

Sini, who was sworn in to his Suffolk post in January, will investigate alleged incidents of abuse that occurred in Suffolk County and will coordinate his efforts with Singas' office, Cuomo said. Vance said his agency will turn over to Singas' office any evidence or information obtained from subpoenas they issued within a day of The New Yorker's report.