Report: Columbia University Reportedly Under Criminal Investigation For Handling Of Sexual Abuse Claims Against Former Doc Robert Hadden

Hadden was arrested and charged with six counts of enticing women to engage in illegal sex acts Wednesday and entered a not guilty plea.

After Hadden’s arrest, The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that it is engaged in an “intensely active” investigation “which examines potential failures by Dr. Hadden’s employer and hospital to disclose additional incidents of abuse to our office and to regulators when required.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office opened a case against Hadden in February, a month after former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s wife Evelyn told CNN Hadden sexually assaulted her in his exam room in 2012 when she was seven months pregnant with her first child.

Anthony DiPietro, a lawyer representing patients in a lawsuit against Hadden and his former employers Columbia and New York-Presbyterian Hospital told CBS Friday that more than 80 people have come forward with new allegations since Yang’s interview, and in total 110 former patients have come forward.

When asked about a criminal investigation, a Columbia spokesperson told CBS “Columbia cooperated fully with the District Attorney’s original investigation of Robert Hadden, and is continuing to do so.”

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.