NY Attorney General resigns over abuse charges: SL woman among four accusers

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has resigned after four women came forward accusing him of physical abuse, threats and other misconduct.   

‘In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me,’ Schneiderman said in a statement on Monday night.   

The accusers, two of them speaking on the record, told the New Yorker in an article published hours earlier that Schneiderman had hit or slapped them without consent, often in bed, and frequently after drinking. Two of Schneiderman’s former romantic partners, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, came forward to share their allegations against him, which they classify as ‘assault’.   

Selvaratnam, who is from Sri Lanka, claims that Scheiderman called her his ‘brown slave’ and demanded that she call him ‘Master’, slapping her until she complied.   

She said that he also choked her, ‘cutting off my ability to breathe,’ and added ‘it was a fairy tale that became a nightmare’.  

‘The slaps started after we’d gotten to know each other,’ she recalled. ‘It was at first as if he were testing me. Then it got stronger and harder... It wasn’t consensual.   

A third former romantic partner, who was not named, shared similar stories of bedroom violence. A fourth woman, an attorney in New York, said Schneiderman made unwanted advances and then slapped her when she rebuffed him.   

‘No one is above the law, including New York’s top legal officer, said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a statement on Monday night calling on the attorney general to resign.   

‘My personal opinion is that, given the damning pattern of facts and corroboration laid out in the article, I do not believe it is possible for Eric Schneiderman to continue to serve as attorney general, and for the good of the office, he should resign,’ Cuomo said.   
DAILY MAIL(New York),8 May 2018-