Former Manhattan Doc Robert Hadden Has Been Arrested, Faces New Sexual Abuse Allegations

Hadden “sexually abused dozens of female patients, including multiple minors, under the guise of conducting purported gynecological and obstetric examinations” at his medical office and at hospitals in Manhattan throughout more than a decade, according to the indictment. 

The indictment identifies six of the women using numbers, and it is not clear if it includes former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s wife, Evelyn, who told CNN in January that Hadden sexually assaulted her in his exam room in 2012 when she was seven months pregnant with her first child.

Hadden is also under an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which opened a case against him in February.

More than 65 women accused him of sexual abuse, Anthony T. DiPietro, a lawyer representing many of the women in a lawsuit against Hadden and his former employers Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital told the New York Times in February. 

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office received sharp criticism for striking a plea deal in 2016 that allowed Hadden to avoid prison time after being accused of sexual abuse by 19 patients in an investigation that started in June 2012. 

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance and his chief assistant Karen Friedman Agnifilo have defended the decision to resolve the case by letting Hadden plead guilty to a single felony count of third-degree criminal sexual contact and a misdemeanor count of forcible touching and to lose his medical license.