ALBANY - Veteran lawyers in the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the State Comptroller were provided with draft copies of a settlement agreement barring victims of Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s alleged sexual improprieties from criticizing either the politician or the state Assembly, records show.
The unusual confidentiality provision, in which the victims promised, at the risk of a $10,000 penalty, not to make “any disparaging remarks, comments or statements in any form concerning any aspect, circumstance or incident” involving Lopez, was included in settlement drafts reviewed by the offices of the attorney general and the comptroller, as well as the final agreement, which was not reviewed by those agencies.
