It may be old news, but on Thursday, a lawsuit involving Marc Abrams, Democratic candidate for State Rep 149th District resurfaced.
Marc Abrams addressing a crowd at the Democrats picnic in September. Credit: Leslie Yager
In the suit, which dates back to 2010 and is still pending, two plaintiffs, 27- and 28-year old employees of Abrams’ hedge fund, Titan Capital, accuse Abrams and others at the hedge fund of sexual harassment.
Mr. Abrams, who debated Republican incumbent Livvy Floren at Town Hall on Monday night, described himself as a successful businessman who put himself through college and law school. He is the co-president and Trustee of the Greenwich Reform Synagogue, which, over the summer, initiated a federal lawsuit against the Town of Greenwich over denial of its proposed house of worship in a Cos Cob residential neighborhood. Last week the Town and its ZBA voted to settle.
Abrams responded to Thursday’s flurry of news reports on the pending sexual harassment lawsuit by issuing a statement describing the lawsuit as “frivolous,” charging, “All my opponents want to do is anonymously spread distortions on the internet blogs.”
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Kevin Rennie, who publishes a blog, “Daily Ructions,” and describes himself as a Hartford Courant political columnist, former member of the Connecticut House and Senate, and practicing lawyer, has published several blog posts about Mr. Abrams legal entanglements.
According to Abrams, the suit was dismissed in federal court, but “the plaintiffs’ lawyers moved forward under a New York City Law to keep the matter alive in hopes of a pay-off, “specifically offering to settle to ‘spare our embarrassment’ for $2.5 million.”
In his statement on Thursday Abrams referred to his opponents’ “dirty trick usually reserved for career politicians desperate to hold on to their seat…”
Earlier on Thursday, Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey called on Marc Abrams to leave the race for State Representative.
“It goes without saying that the nature of the allegations and tone of misogyny contained in the complaint are disturbing to say the least. Those attitudes would not be welcome in the General Assembly,” Sharkey said.
“I understand that these are simply allegations. But I think the problem is that there is a pending case. When something like this is hanging out there in the form of these allegations, it seems to me that someone seeking public office should resolve these issues before they ask the public for their vote,” Sharkey added.
In his statement on Thursday, Abrams said that he and his wife have decided not to let the lawsuit impact their decision to run and focus only on the issues.
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