A top aide to Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now being pulled into questions over the Sheldon Silver rape case, as attorney Carrie Goldberg says First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan may know more about how the Assembly handled the matter years ago. Goldberg represents Elizabeth Crothers, who says she was sexually assaulted in 2001 by Michael Boxley, then the chief legal counsel to former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Goldberg said Fuleihan was working for Silver and Assembly Democrats during the period when the alleged assault and the fallout that followed took place. At the time, he served as a top budget aide, and Goldberg argued that his role could have placed him near internal discussions about how officials responded. She said she wants to know what he remembers from that period and whether he was part of any strategy sessions involving the handling of the complaint or a possible payout.
The lawyer described Silver’s office as tightly controlled and said anyone overseeing the budget would have had insight into sensitive internal matters. She also said a “smear campaign” was aimed at Crothers after the alleged assault. Goldberg has tied the case to the broader shift in accountability that came later with the #MeToo movement, saying the response to an allegation like Crothers’ would likely draw far more scrutiny today than it did then.
Crothers filed a negligence lawsuit three years ago, taking advantage of the Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily opened a window for people alleging sexual assault to sue even after the usual statute of limitations had expired. The case has kept attention on how powerful institutions handled misconduct claims before the modern wave of public backlash against abuse and retaliation.
Boxley has denied sexually abusing Crothers, but he did plead guilty in December 2003 to one count of sexual misconduct after another Assembly staffer, Rikki Shaw, accused him of sexual assault. He later received six years of probation, a $1,000 fine, and a requirement that he register as a sex offender. Shaw originally appeared in court under the name Jane Doe, but she identified herself last October in an affidavit tied to Crothers’ civil case against the state.
