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Paul Whelan attacked by fellow prisoner at Russian labor camp, family says
Washington — Paul Whelan, the American businessman who the U.S. considers to be wrongfully detained by Russia, was attacked Tuesday by a fellow prisoner at the labor camp where he is serving a 16 year sentence, according to his family.
His brother David Whelan wrote in an email that Paul detailed the incident in a phone call to his parents. Paul said a fellow prisoner blocked part of a production line as he was working at a sewing table.
After Whelan repeatedly asked the prisoner to move out of the way, “the prisoner hit Paul in the face, breaking Paul’s glasses in the process, and attempted to hit him a second time,” he wrote. “Paul stood up to block the second hit and other prisoners intervened to prevent the prisoner continuing to attack Paul.”
David Whelan said his brother described the attack as “relatively minor” and reported it to a prison official.
Paul Whelan is “concerned that these sorts of attacks can occur any time and, due to the various sharp implements in the workshop including the shears the other prisoner was holding today, could escalate into a far more serious attack,” David Whelan said, adding that “Paul is a target because he is an American and anti-American sentiment is not uncommon among the other prisoners.”
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File
Paul Whelan’s parents have shared an audio recording of the call with the State Department and National Security Council so that they can address his safety with the Russian government, David Whelan said.
The State Department and National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Paul Whelan was arrested on espionage charges in 2018 while attending a friend’s wedding in Russia. He and his family have vehemently denied the espionage charges and the U.S. considers him to be wrongfully detained, a rare designation that puts the full force of the government behind securing his release. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison and has been serving that sentence in a labor camp in Mordovia.
He has remained imprisoned while the U.S. has secured the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed and WNBA star Brittney Griner, who were both wrongfully detained in Russia after his arrest. Both Reed and Griner were released in prisoner swaps between Washington and Moscow.
The U.S. is now also seeking the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for 10 months on unsubstantiated espionage charges. On Tuesday, a Russian court extended his detention through the end of January as he awaits trial.
Whelan and his family have voiced concern that he could be left behind again as the U.S. seeks the release of Gershkovich.
His sister, Elizabeth Whelan, visited Washington in September to pressure officials to do more to bring her brother home.
“I don’t know what the Russians are asking for at this particular point, but whatever it is, it had better be possible,” she told CBS News at the time.
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Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed a lawsuit Thursday against a former aide who alleged he sexually harassed her in 2020. His legal filing came just days after she withdrew her own lawsuit against him.
In the filing, Cuomo’s lawyers claimed Charlotte Bennett, a former executive assistant in his office, lied about him making sexual advances toward her.
“Governor Cuomo did not make any sexual advances toward Bennett and did not sexually harass her,” his lawyers wrote in a notice filed in New York state court on Thursday.
Bennett was the second woman to accuse the then-governor of sexual harassment, which she said included telling her he was “lonely” and asking her if she would be open to sex with an older man. She described Cuomo as “a textbook abuser” who made her “deeply uncomfortable.”
After Bennett went public with her allegations in March 2021, Cuomo held a press conference where he said he felt “embarrassed” and that he “never knew at the time I was making anyone feel uncomfortable.”
In Thursday’s filing, his lawyers wrote the former governor faced “a cascade of harm” as a result of Bennett’s allegations.
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after New York’s attorney general released the results of an investigation that concluded he had sexually harassed at least 11 women, including Bennett.
When that investigation came out, Cuomo denied ever sexually harassing women. “The facts are much different than what has been portrayed,” Cuomo said at the time. “I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.”
Last week, Bennett dropped a separate federal suit she had filed in 2022 accusing Cuomo of sexual harassment. In a statement posted by her attorney on X, Bennett cited “invasive discovery requests” made by Cuomo’s legal team that included her medical records from more than a decade ago.
In their filing today, Cuomo’s attorneys note that their discovery requests fell “under the rules that govern all federal lawsuits. They alleged Bennett dropped her suit to avoid being deposed and to “shield the overwhelming evidence of her false claims from ever becoming public.”
Cuomo’s notice said “Bennett’s claims were … exposed as a sham through the discovery process.”
As part of her statement last week, an attorney for Bennett said she would still be pursuing a case against the state of New York, her employer at the time of the alleged harassment. In a separate statement, Bennett called Cuomo’s legal filings “abusive.”
“Throughout this extraordinarily painful two-year case, I’ve many times believed that I’d be better off dead than endure more of his litigation abuse, which has caused extraordinary pain and expense to my family and friends,” Bennett said. “I desperately need to live my life.”
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