By: Mario Mancini
Scandal continues to brew in the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Sofia Quintanar, 33, alleges that Ibrahim Khan — who was allowed to resign after being slapped with multiple sexual harassment complaints, he allegedly killed her bid to work as a press representative on the campaign, which ended with James cruising to victory in November, according to the exclusive New York Post report.
Kahn is the former chief of staff to the Attorney General, Quintanar is a former top aide
Quintanar claims that Khan “forcibly stuck his tongue down her throat”. The claim is detailed in Quintanar’s Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from last week accusing Kahn of forcibly kissing her outside a Brooklyn bar in November 2021 and James of covering up her longtime staffer’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Quintanar told The New York Post she informally inquired about working on press and communications strategy for the James campaign in September — shortly before she reported her harassment-abuse complaint against Khan, the suit states.
While she was interested in the position, the suit says Quintanar was also “anxious” that it would require her to work with Khan, who, as James’ chief of staff and longtime political adviser, had input with her campaign.
As a “trusted adviser” to James he would undoubtedly have “to interact with Quintanar on a regular basis,” the filing states.
According to the suit, Quintanar was “ambivalent” about the potential job, as she had not yet disclosed “Khan’s assault” at the Nov. 17, 2021 fundraiser to a mentor who had suggested she would be perfect for the position.
“Quintanar was under a cloud as she waited to hear back about this opportunity, knowing it could put her back in touch with Khan,” the court document states.
“Shortly thereafter, Quintanar learned that Khan had personally interfered with her application.”
Khan allegedly told the campaign that he personally didn’t mind having Quintanar on board — but advised she “didn’t get along well enough with another high-level government aide, effectively killing the opportunity for Quintanar,” according to the exclusive New York Post report.
Later in September, Quintanar told her mentor that Khan assaulted her and that he also had allegedly assaulted another staffer “while she was employed by Attorney General James,” the lawsuit states.
Quintanar and her mentor then informed James’ campaign manager of her complaint against Khan, which prompted James to hire an outside law firm that conducted an independent investigation into the allegation, writes Carl Campanile of The New York Post.
The NY Times reported originally reported:
“I find it just appalling to see how the office handled this publicly,” Ms. Quintanar, 33, told The New York Times in her first public interview about her interaction with Mr. Khan. She said that she decided to come forward because she believed that Ms. James’s office took more care to protect Mr. Khan than the women who accused him of abuse, allowing him to quietly submit his resignation in November with his reputation intact.
Ms. James, in a sit-down interview with Errol Louis of NY1, said that the allegations against Mr. Khan were substantiated and that she believed the women who had accused him of inappropriate touching and kissing.
An AG spokesperson, in responding to the Quintanar suit last week, said, “We took the allegations brought to our office seriously and engaged in decisive, prompt, and appropriate action.”