We write to you as a collective group of survivors and victims who believe TIME’S UP is failing the survivor community. We believed in your mission and hoped that your investment in eradicating sexual assault and harassment in the workplace would change the tide to support us as we came forward, but we are disappointed.

TIME’S UP has abandoned the very people it was supposed to champion. The board continues to fail to heed the outcry from survivors. TIME’S UP is failing all survivors.

We were dismayed yet unsurprised to see TIME’S UP leaders Roberta Kaplan and Tina Tchen named in the 165 page Attorney General’s report investigating the allegations of sexual harassment by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. In the detailed report, Kaplan and Tchen, in their roles at TIME’S UP, weaponized their knowledge of survivors experiences to help Governor Cuomo and his office retaliate against at least one of nearly a dozen women who were courageous in speaking up about the myriad of ways he abused his power and violated their bodies in the workplace. Furthermore, we were vexed to see TIME’S UP board member, Hilary Rosen, characterize this breach of trust as ‘a good deed being punished’ and that it’s normal for TIME’S UP to “[do] what they always do, give good advice to politicians to tell the truth and not attack their accusers.” There is a consistent pattern of behavior where the decision-makers at TIME’S UP continue to align themselves with abusers at the expense of survivors. TIME’S UP should be ashamed.

TIME’S UP has prioritized its proximity to power over mission. And now that TIME’S UP’s board members’ and staff’s actions have come to light, you cannot rewrite history by signing open letters to the New York State Senate and Assembly calling on them to remove Governor Cuomo from office when you actively worked to further his defense behind closed doors.

Instead of helping survivors remain at the center of our own stories, we find out in the press that you were consulted by abusers to aid them in victim-blaming and undermining our ability to come forward. This behavior harms all survivors. This behavior discourages survivors from seeking support and speaking out and causes ripples of distrust felt throughout our movement. This behavior has us questioning who we can truly trust. Whether or not you agreed to help, perpetrators of harm felt comfortable reaching out to you for crisis management. That is a problem.

This is not the first time TIME’S UP is complicit in enabling abuse. Earlier this year, TIME’S UP Healthcare board members resigned en masse after allegations that board member Dr. Esther Choo was accused “of brushing off an allegation of sexual misconduct” that was brought to her attention by a coworker at Oregon Health and Science University. Despite calls to step down, Choo remains on the board and is now being represented by fellow board member Roberta Kaplan.

In 2020, the New York Post reported that Kaplan is also representing Goldman Sachs in a workplace sexual harassment case. While the National Women’s Law Center maintains that, “Ms. Kaplan’s decision to represent Goldman Sachs in the matter at hand was made in her personal capacity, and with no involvement by the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund,” we can’t help but feel disheartened that once again a TIME’S UP board member is playing both sides. Our lives are not a game. Our experiences of abuse are not research for your next big case. TIME’S UP cannot be funded by and seek the support of corporations accused of harboring perpetrators of harm. TIME’S UP cannot call for shining a light on sexual harassment and justice while working with our abusers in the shadows.

TIME’S UP is deceiving survivors. You asked us to come to you and trust you with our stories and our cases. We trusted that you had our best interests at heart. We trusted that what you said in public would match the support we’d receive in private. Survivors are so often let down by the system of justice in this country, and it is heartbreaking to see that TIME’S UP has become a willing participant in that never-ending labyrinth. The pattern of your behavior shows you do not deserve our trust any longer without serious structural changes.

TIME’S UP has lost its way.

TIME’S UP and the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund were founded and funded to be visionary organizations meant to provide three-dimensional support to victims and survivors as we navigate the legal system and the public eye. TIME’S UP and TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund were built to advocate for those who make the bold decision to hold our abusers accountable.

But it seems that vision was lost and leadership drifted from who mattered most: survivors and victims.

For those of us who have worked directly with you, we haven’t received the wraparound support that you’ve promised in the press. TIME’S UP leadership has looked the other way while lawyers, funded by the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, mishandled and neglected cases, missed statutes of limitations deadlines denying us our day in court, and even berating and patronizing survivors during meetings while bungling their cases.

In our experiences, it felt as if TIME’S UP preferred to enable the delays in our cases to the point of dangerous escalation to give the organization the opportunity to swoop in at the last minute, offering minimal solutions to be the heroes for press and donors. In some instances, TIME’S UP has withheld financial assistance and proactive public relations support for survivors and victims, only to pounce when they receive pushback or negative press coverage.

To make matters worse, TIME’S UP has spun these incidents to donors and the press to falsely demonstrate the vitality of their work without regard for the emotional toll it takes on us. Survivors, not donors or the media, should be the driving force behind the work. TIME’S UP designed its entire mission, values, and operation around survivors and victims — it’s time we actually feel it.

Many of us have attempted to have one-on-one conversations with TIME’S UP leadership, but we were overlooked. As we’ve done so many times before as survivors and advocates, we raise our voices now in hope of creating systemic change.

To begin to repair the harm done, we ask that TIME’S UP and the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund:

1. Conduct a third-party investigation and issue a detailed report illustrating the full extent to which TIME’S UP and National Women’s Law Center board members and staff members have been approached by, offered advice to, or are representing perpetrators of harm.
2. Remove any board members, and staffers, who have supported perpetrators of harm, effective immediately.
3. Return and refuse any donations by individuals and corporations that have active allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or are litigating in opposition to survivors.
4. Cease all partnerships with any individuals or corporations that have active allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or are litigating in opposition to survivors.
5. Publish a report detailing the breakdown of the TIME’S UP and TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund’s budgets and what percentage of funds are dedicated to survivors and victim’s cases, media relations, and emotional and physical support.
6. Form a Survivor Advisory Council before the end of 2021 to ensure that those being served by TIME’S UP and TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund are directly involved in organizational oversight and strategic visioning.
7. Affirm that a majority of TIME’S UP and TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund programming is led by and inclusive of survivors and victims.
8. Establish a survivor-led vetting process for TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund lawyers and public relations staffers to ensure that all personnel representing survivors and victims have the temperament for and experience in sexual harassment, abuse, misconduct, and assault cases using a survivor-centric lens.

We are the change we want to see. We spoke out about our sexual harassment and sexual assault experiences so that others knew they weren’t alone and could feel supported when they too came forward. We want to create a system of true justice, for survivors and victims, led by survivors and victims. We know there are so many survivors and victims with stories they want to tell. They are simply waiting on a call back from the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund to listen to their case. TIME’S UP must no longer delay our justice.

TIME’S UP’s intent was to make this world a better place for survivors and victims; that can still happen if changes are implemented immediately.

TIME’S UP’s legacy should be lifting up survivor voices and helping us hold our abusers accountable. This is the responsibility and commitment that TIME’S UP made. Survivors put their trust in TIME’S UP. Show up for survivors.

We are asking TIME’S UP to do better by us, and all survivors and victims who come to you seeking counsel. Please don’t make coming forward harder.

As TIME’S UP wrote in the open letter to the CBS board of directors “real progress can only occur with a transparent commitment to long-term structural changes from top to bottom.” This is your opportunity to make real progress.

We believe in the power of survivors. We hope you do too.

Signed,

1. Abby Haglage
2. AD
3. Aerica Shimizu Banks
4. Alaina Hampton, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
5. Alessandra Biaggi
6. Alexia Norton Jones, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
7. Alison Turkos
8. Alissa Vierra
9. Allison Ivie
10. Ally Alexander
11. Amanda Wallwin
12. Amelia Tramontano
13. Amy Dorris
14. Andrea Tantaros
15. Angela Webster
16. Annabelle Dixon
17. Anonymous
18. Anonymous
19. Anonymous
20. Anonymous
21. Anonymous
22. Anonymous
23. Anonymous
24. Anonymous
25. Anonymous
26. Anonymous, current TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
27. Anonymous, current TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
28. Anonymous, former TIME’S UP staffer
29. Anonymous, former TIME’S UP staffer
30. Anonymous, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
31. Anonymous, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
32. AQ
33. Asher Lovy
34. AY
35. Belinda Baker
36. c m taylor
37. Cara Thaxton
38. Carolyn G. Curtis
39. Carson Bell
40. Charlotte Bennett
41. Charlotte Laughon
42. Chel Miller
43. Chelsey Glasson
44. Christie Roe
45. Christine S.
46. Clare Lyons, RN
47. CN
48. Colleen Kennedy
49. Crista Anne
50. Danielle Campoamor
51. Delia Harrington
52. Dolores Ann Lozano
53. Dominique Huett, current TIME’S UP Safety Working Group member
54. Drew Dixon
55. DT
56. Eiko Ishiwata
57. Elena Rahona
58. Elizabeth Blackney
59. Elizabeth Crothers
60. Emily O’Malley
61. Emily Reilly
62. Erica L Mitchell
63. Erica Vladimer
64. ES
65. Eva Crowder
66. Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio
67. Geoff Beane
68. GF
69. Glenda
70. Grace Cunningham
71. Holly G Atkinson
72. I. E. McElroy
73. Jaclyn Friedman
74. Janice L. Daniels, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
75. Jayna Boyle
76. Jenny Carr
77. Jessica Gottsleben
78. Joan Spinelli
79. JPB
80. JT
81. Julie Macfarlane
82. JZ
83. Karen Boylan
84. Karina
85. Kat Sutherland
86. Katharina Kelton
87. Katherine Barnes
88. Katherine Miller
89. Katie Brennan, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
90. Katrina Basch
91. Kavita Mehra
92. Kelsey Harper
93. Kieran
94. Kir Selert
95. Laura Goldman
96. Lauren Weingarten, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
97. Lawren W
98. Leah Hebert
99. Lisa
100. Lizzette Martinez, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
101. LS
102. Madeline Comer
103. Madison Campbell
104. Marguerite B.
105. Marissa Hoechstetter
106. Marissa McKool, MPH
107. Mary Ellen Oloughlin
108. Mary Rinaldi
109. M.B, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
110. Megan Malloy, former TIME’S UP staffer
111. Melinda Fox
112. Melissa Schuman
113. Michelle Roy
114. MS
115. Natalie Ryan Fong
116. Natasha Anushri Anandaraja MD, MPH
117. Nicole
118. Pamela Guest, current TIME’S UP Safety Working Group member
119. Pattie Henry
120. Pringl Miller MD FACS
121. Racheal Stirling
122. Rachel Earnest
123. Rachel izzo, BSN RN CEN
124. Roya Gholami
125. Sage Carson
126. Sally Canfield
127. Sam H
128. Sandra Muller
129. Sara Atkins
130. Sarah Nesbitt
131. Sarah Szalavitz
132. SB
133. Seema Zeya
134. Seo-Young Chu
135. Shannon Keeler
136. Sharon
137. Shelley Ross
138. SL
139. ST
140. Stella Safo
141. Susan P.
142. Tara Reade, former TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund client
143. Tasha
144. Teresa Ginsberg
145. Timothy Lennon
146. Verity Nevitt
147. Vivian Chang
148. Wagatwe Wanjuki
149. Yasmeen Hussain
150. Yuh-Line Niou, New York State Assembly for the 65th district
151. Zoe Brock

(If you are a survivor-victim and would like to join us you can sign onto the letter here)

(please note at 3:10pm EST on Tuesday, August 10th, 2021 this letter was edited to include the National Women’s Law Center Board of Directors as addressees)

Vanita Gupta, Esq.
Associate Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530–0001

Kristen Clarke, Esq.
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530–0001

August 2, 2021

Dear Attorney General Garland, Associate Attorney General Gupta, and Assistant Attorney General Clarke,

I am a victim-survivor of rape and other crimes of gender-based violence in New York City. I write to request that the United States Department of Justice investigate the New York Police Department (NYPD) for discriminatory patterns and practices in policing.

In October 2017, I was kidnapped at gunpoint by my Lyft driver, taken across state lines, and along with two other men, I was gang raped. Two days later, I made the difficult decision to report my rape. I thought I was taking a step towards ending my trauma. I had no idea that in reporting my rape, I was simply inviting additional trauma.

The NYPD tells victims of sex crimes that they want us to report, that they’re ready with resources to bring us justice. But I write to you today as an example of what reporting your rape to the NYPD really looks like: callous disregard.

My body is evidence. I became the physical manifestation of a crime scene. After my rape kit examination, I was escorted out of the hospital by four uniformed NYPD officers, carrying my own rape kit because it had been left behind by police. Put into the back of a marked NYPD police car and driven to the Brooklyn Special Victims Unit, or SVU, precinct. During that initial visit my SVU detective, Maria Quinones, mandated that I go into the employee bathroom, pull my pants to my ankles, and have my best friend take photos of the bruises left on my body by my rapists. In that moment, it felt like violence was perpetrated against me not only by my rapists but by the City of New York.

After my attack, I suffered from post-traumatic stress and experienced severe trust issues, which were only exacerbated by the NYPD and the lack of regard my detective routinely showed me. She would not return my phone calls or emails, no matter how much I begged for more information, for any information. The few times when she did communicate with me, she was dishonest, including lying to me about gathering video evidence, working with local NJ park officials, and bringing the driver in for questioning in 2017. It became clear to me that the NYPD wasn’t interested in getting justice for me, and that nothing was going to change unless I changed it myself.

I had to become my own advocate, following up and speaking out. I had to demand to be heard by the higher-ups at the NYPD. I had to speak to the press to get my case taken seriously. I have filed a lawsuit against New York City for the NYPD’s discriminatory provision of investigative services to sexual assault survivors. I had to be my own support system and fight every day just to be heard by anyone at the NYPD. And I’m not alone.

My inbox is filled with survivors who have been failed by the NYPD. They come to me most often seeking support, but also for the institutional knowledge I have been forced to gain navigating the criminal legal system. I respond to each and every one, because I know what it’s like to be ignored, and I want these victim-survivors to know they are not alone. These are the stories we tell each other quietly via direct message. I don’t write to you today on their behalf because they don’t need me to, those victims have their own voice, and they are extraordinary. I tell you this because victims of sexual assault and gender-based violence are being retraumatized by the NYPD. The Department of Justice cannot be complicit in that retraumatization.

It should never be on the backs of victims to have to fight to be believed and supported within a system supposedly designed for victims of sexual violence, and certainly not one that the NYPD touts is “victim-centric.” Our job is not to fight to hold the NYPD accountable; our job is to heal.

The NYPD has stolen that from me.

Even now, almost four years after my assault, I’m still unable to start the job of healing because the NYPD never did their job.

I did what I was supposed to do: I reported. I showed up every time the NYPD asked me to — whenever they asked me to be somewhere, I was there, on the phone, in person I was available to them day and night, no matter how difficult the request. I have been cooperative in reliving my trauma, sharing my pain, and doing whatever it takes to help investigate the crime perpetrated against me. And all the while, they couldn’t even be bothered to answer a simple email or phone call. They ignored me, belittled me, and dismissed me. The NYPD made a mockery of me, of my case, and of the city I love.

Why are victims and survivors of gender-based violence so unimportant to the NYPD? Why can’t they take the time to invest in us? I have no compassion for a system that throws away victims and survivors who come to them seeking support, guidance, and justice. I will not be grateful to an institution that has harmed me and is still actively perpetuating harm against survivors. I refuse to carry shame because it is not mine to carry. That belongs to the NYPD, and to the Department of Justice if you do nothing and refuse to investigate. You cannot fix or change what happened to me, but you have an opportunity to fix and change what happens to someone else.

I am not alone in submitting a letter to you, and I hope you see the urgency and need for an investigation. One victim is too many. Do not hear our stories and turn your backs on us the way the NYPD has.

I am ready to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation. I am ready to speak with investigators about my experiences. I hope the Justice Department is as ready to seek justice for victims and survivors of rape and other gender-based violence. Discriminatory policing in New York City must stop.

I deserve better. Survivors and victims deserve better. New Yorkers deserve better. And I will not stop fighting until we get what we deserve.

Sincerely,
Alison Turkos

The Honorable
Jacquelyn Kasulis
Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza E, Brooklyn, NY 11201

The Honorable Jacquelyn Kasulis:

My name is Alison Turkos, I am the victim of a federal crime and a victim of your office’s refusal to take my case.

At approximately 2:30 a.m on October 14, 2017, I ordered a Lyft in Brooklyn, NY. Instead of taking me home, the Lyft driver kidnapped me at gunpoint and took me to a desolate park in New Jersey, where two other men were waiting to viciously and brutally gang-rape me. Nearly a year later, my case was transferred from the NYPD to the FBI. Then in January 2019, my case was referred from the Southern District of New York to your office.

I am writing this letter to you now because, after four years of being asked to relive my trauma, over and over again, I have learned that your office will not take action in my case. Even after emailing Ms. Ngai, Ms. Diouf, and Mr. Mehta on Sunday, July 11, requesting a meeting about my case, I have yet to receive a response. To be honest, I no longer expect one.

Your office has made this decision about my case without ever meeting me in person or speaking to me beyond one Zoom call in 2.5 years. Instead of fighting for justice, you are denying me my day in court.

I’ve told my painful story to AUSAs, the FBI, NYPD patrol officers, NYPD Special Victims Division, victims advocates, and even the press — all in an effort to seek some semblance of justice for what happened to me. Yet, your AUSAs have made assumptions about my credibility and my ability to withstand cross-examination, without bothering to meet me face to face. They turned their backs on me, and continue to risk the safety of other potential victims because they do not believe the brutality that I suffered was believable enough for a jury.

If I was your daughter, sister, or friend, I believe this case would have already been prosecuted. I may not be YOUR daughter, sister, or best friend, but what if I was? Would Ms. Ngai, Ms. Diouf, or Mr. Mehta make the same decision to delay justice or decline to prosecute? Would you worry about my “credibility” then?

In the sole conversation I had with Ms. Ngai, Ms. Diouf, and Mr. Mehta in February 2021, I was not shown respect or empathy. They asked me why I was “comfortable” recounting my gang-rape. They asked what “sexual positions” I recalled. Let me be clear: there are no sexual positions in a rape. It’s an assault. It is brutal. It’s penetration by force. It is not sex.

Later, I would learn they pressed the emergency room clinician who treated me the day I reported about the extent of my injuries. Despite telling the FBI and your AUSAs that my sexual assault was “the worst she’s seen in her 17 years of providing care in a Brooklyn hospital,” Ms. Ngai and Ms. Diouf asked her if my brutal injuries could have been caused by “inserting a tampon.” According to the FBI, your office didn’t just ask this question once. They asked it FOUR times.

If your team thinks that a gang-rape includes “sexual positions” or that severe sexual trauma can be mistaken for tampon use, I have little faith the Eastern District has the capacity to believe a victim or understand trauma. (And for the record, I don’t use tampons. I don’t have a menstrual cycle. Something your office would know if they bothered to ask.)

I understand sexual assault cases are difficult, but not impossible, to prosecute. You have ample evidence. You have my rape kit with two semen samples, a detailed map of the Lyft ride, the driver’s New York City Taxi and Limo Commission license number, the make and model of the car, the license plate number, the driver’s first and last name, his photo. You have details of my sexual history. You know that the driver was the first to ask, unprompted, “Is she saying I raped her…is she saying that other people raped her and I was there,” during a January 31, 2018 interview with the NYPD, long before I ever told my story publicly.

Further, I wasn’t just raped. I was also kidnapped, which is very clearly a crime. Why not move forward with The Mann Act or aggravated kidnapping? If I can stand up and subject myself to merciless judgment for nearly four years, I believe the least your office can do is subject itself to a jury.

Is it because I’m a “difficult victim,” according to your office? Or maybe it’s because I’m queer. Or that I don’t come from a wealthy or connected family. Or because I’m an activist. Perhaps you don’t want to move forward because I’m a multiple sexual assault survivor. Or because I’m suing the NYPD and Lyft in an attempt to hold those systems accountable for their own failures.

As a survivor of such heinous crimes, I deserve an answer. And just as I refused to be silenced by my rapists, I will not be silenced by your office.

While the world was waking up to the explosion of the #MeToo movement on October 16, 2017, I was undergoing a rape kit in a New York City emergency room. At that time, I held back from sharing my story publicly because I wanted to give the legal system the chance to hold those who harmed me accountable. I suffered through the indignities of a rape kit, of reporting my assault, of a police and federal investigation, and of navigating a system that would break most people. In the wake of a public reckoning following the criminal rape cases involving Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Jeffrey Epstein, I had hoped that the Eastern District would be committed to finding justice for the unprecedented wave of survivors and victims that were sharing their stories. I did my job as a victim because I do not want those men to do to others what they did to me. Yet your office is failing to do the job you are sworn to do.

One victim is too many. I never want to hear another story like mine. Fights like mine are worth fighting, regardless of how they affect your conviction rate. If you lose a case, but you are able to provide a victim with some sense of closure, healing, and justice, isn’t that also doing your job? By giving up on my case, what message are you sending not only to me but to all other victims? Are we not worth the fight?

Your office should be prosecuting based on the standard of law rather than the perfect standard you hold victims to. I’m sorry my victimhood is not enough for you. I’m sorry being gang-raped across state lines is not enough for your office to deem me sympathetic. But I assure you, my credibility is strong, and this conversation will not end here.

Alison L. Turkos
Case Number: 7A-NY-2970293

Cc:

M. Kristin Mace
Acting Chief of the Criminal Division
Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza E, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Genny Ngai
Assistant United States Attorney
Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza E, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Marietou Diouf
Assistant United States Attorney
Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza E, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Hiral Mehta
Deputy Chief, U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza E, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Allen Bode
Assistant United States Attorney
Eastern District of New York
225 Cadman Plaza E, Brooklyn, NY 11201

The Honorable Sen. Chuck Schumer
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
478 Russell Senate Bldg
Washington, DC 20510