Days after the first accusation of misconduct surfaced last year against New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), his staff began reaching out to a prominent advocate for sexual harassment victims and the head of the largest gay rights group for guidance as they mulled how to discredit his accuser.

This week, an independent investigation commissioned by New York Attorney General Letitia James found that the subsequent effort by the governor’s office to undermine the credibility of former Cuomo adviser Lindsey Boylan — by leaking her private employee records and circulating a draft of a letter that impugned her credibility — amounted to “unlawful retaliation.”

Attorney Roberta Kaplan, a co-founder of Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, and Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, are now facing questions about their role in Cuomo’s aggressive effort to fight back against his accusers.