An investigation into misconduct allegations against Segun Idowu, Boston’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, found that the senior City Hall official did not violate any city policies.
The results of the investigation, conducted by the city’s internal human resources department with the help of external law firm Stoneman, Chandler & Miller LLP, were sent to the city’s chief of human resources and Mayor Michelle Wu’s chief of staff in a terse one-page memo Wednesday evening.
The investigation was sparked by a Globe article in which Marwa Khudaynazar alleged that Idowu made sexual advances towards her while they both worked for the city. The memo released Wednesday said that, through her lawyer, Khudaynazar “declined to participate” in the investigation into her allegations. Khudaynazar did not immediately return the Globe’s request for comment.
Investigators interviewed “available witnesses,” reviewed media reports, relevant documents, and text messages sent between Idowu and Khudaynazar as part of the probe, the memo said, without providing any details, including how officials accessed the text messages and whether they were the same as those Khudaynazar shared with the Globe.
It also noted that Khudaynazar never directly reported the allegations to the city.
“The investigation did not reveal any facts that suggest Mr. Idowu violated the city’s policy prohibiting sexual harassment, either by creating a hostile work environment or engaging in quid pro quo harassment, or any other workforce policies,” the memo stated.
The letter, three paragraphs long and titled “Confidential Investigation — Summary Statement," offered no other details, and city officials did not respond to questions from the Globe seeking more information, including whether the findings of the investigation dispute Khudaynazar’s recollection of events during the night in question.
Idowu called the investigation’s summary a “vindication” in a statement released through his attorney Wednesday evening, adding that it came after “weeks of politically motivated defamatory accusations and assaults on [his] character and work.”
The sequence of events that led to the investigation began in mid-May. Boston police arrested two City Hall employees, 27-year-old Khudaynazar and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Chulan Huang, while responding to a report of a domestic incident at a Chinatown apartment early on May 15.
When police arrived, Khudaynazar and Huang were in a fight, and officers separated the two, according to the police report. Police ultimately moved to take both Khudaynazar, who worked for the city’s police accountability office, and Huang, who worked in the economic opportunity and inclusion department, into custody.
In the process, both mentioned they worked at City Hall, according to the police report.
Khudaynazar was charged with assault and battery on a household member and assault and battery on a police officer, and Huang was charged with assault and battery on a household member, according to a police report and court records. Both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The city placed the two on unpaid leave later that day, pending an investigation. Officials fired Khudaynazar and Huang five days later, saying the review found they had tried to use their standing as City Hall employees to avoid arrest, which Wu said violated the city’s ethics policies.
Khudaynazar disputed that characterization in a report published by the Globe on June 9, in which she claimed city officials misinterpreted her and Huang’s comments about their jobs, and moved to quickly fire them to protect Idowu.
Khudaynazar alleged that Idowu, who oversees the department Huang worked in, propositioned her when they ran into each other at a bar the night of May 14. She claimed his sexual advances included kissing her and inviting her to a hotel room, which she declined.
Khudaynazar showed the Globe a text message she said Idowu sent her at 12:47 a.m. that began with an upside-down smile emoji.
“I’m in the room,” the message reads. “I know you’re not gonna join me but I hope I’ve proven that I don’t talk shit and I mean what I say. Let me know when you get home.”
Khudaynazar said she and Huang got into a fight when she told him about the incident, which ultimately led to their arrests. She claimed that city officials did not ask her about the events that preceded their arrests during the investigation. She argued she brought up her job at City Hall to underscore that she believed police were inappropriately escalating the situation.
Wu later defended how the city handled the investigation, but also announced it was launching a new probe into Khudaynazar’s allegations with the help of an external law firm.
City spokesperson Emma Pettit on Wednesday thanked Stoneman, Chandler & Miller LLP “for their thorough examination of the matter,” in a brief statement.
Idowu said that he “did not violate any rules, policies, or ethical and legal codes of conduct,” in his statement Wednesday. “The law enforcement-related events that took place on the evening of May 14th quite simply did not involve me.” His statement did not address whether he propositioned Khudaynazar.
“While this vindication does not erase the pain that defamatory public statements, text messages, and online commentary has caused me, my family, and my community, I look forward to continuing my work to create greater economic equity across the city unabated and without distraction,” Idowu‘s statement continued.
Idowu, one of Wu’s top aides in City Hall, has argued that Wu’s critics, including mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, tried to politicize the allegations against him in an attempt to hurt her standing with voters ahead of the upcoming municipal election.
Wu is running for her second term as mayor, and Kraft, who is widely seen as her most formidable challenger, argued the incident “and the way the Mayor is handling [it], suggests there is a workplace culture and ethics problem at the highest levels of City Hall.”
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.