ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York state ethics panel says it found no evidence to back up a woman's claims that a former Cuomo administration appointee sexually harassed and assaulted her while she worked for the state.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics investigated Lisa Marie Cater's allegations stemming from her personal relationship with William "Sam" Hoyt starting in late 2015.

In a letter sent last week to Hoyt's attorney, JCOPE said it found no evidence that Hoyt harassed or assaulted her. The panel also said it found no evidence that Hoyt had threatened her employment at a state agency, as she had claimed.

Hoyt, a former state assemblyman from Buffalo, was appointed a regional economic development president by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011. He resigned in 2017, just before Cater's sexual harassment claims emerged.

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