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“Idowu propositioning and/or having casual sex with younger office staff disrupts operations, not Khudaynazar telling police she works for the City.”
A former city hall staffer who was fired after a domestic incident is suing for nearly half a million dollars, claiming “her life was destroyed” by Boston City Hall and Mayor Michelle Wu after she exposed the “sexual improprieties” of one of Wu’s leading cabinet members.
Marwa Khudaynazar, the former chief of staff at the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and her boyfriend, Chulan Huang, were both arrested by Boston police in May following an alleged domestic incident at an apartment in Chinatown.
Huang, 26, was also a city employee, apparently working two rungs under Segun Idowu, the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, according to the lawsuit. The city immediately placed the couple on unpaid leave and opened an investigation, which resulted in their termination.
Previously, Khudaynazar claimed that she was fired to protect Idowu. The argument between her and Huang erupted because Idowu had allegedly propositioned her after they bumped into each other at a Back Bay bar. Idowu kissed her, she alleged, and offered for her to join him at a hotel room; she declined.
The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court Wednesday, is suing for $496,000 for lost wages. It names the city, Wu, and responding officer Luke Payne as defendants.
It claims that the City of Boston suspended her without pay without asking her what happened after Wu commented publicly on the allegations “in furtherance of her Mayoral candidacy.”
“Khudaynazar’s immediate unpaid suspension and termination five days later without her version of events stands in stark contrast with city policy and/or practice,” the lawsuit said. “The city’s interest (is) keeping quiet Mr. Idowu’s intraoffice philandering.”
The City of Boston did not return a request for comment.
At the time of the incident, Khudaynazar was out on leave due to a hip replacement surgery the previous month, using first sick leave and then taking time off through the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA leave. During an interview about the incident, city officials “sprung” on Khudaynazar that she was “being investigated for telling colleagues she was on FMLA leave when it was really sick leave.”
The interview “was a sham,” the lawsuit said. Khudaynazar’s termination was “predetermined by the City and Wu. News of Khudaynazar’s firing banger moments after the interview’s conclusion,” the lawsuit claims. It points to examples of city employees who were put on paid or unpaid leave for sometimes months or even years before their termination.
“It made no difference what Khudaynazar said at that interview because she was terminated for telling police she went on a date with Mr. Idowu, both in relation therefor and to keep quiet any story,” the lawsuit said.
Both Khudaynazar and Huang also made statements to police that referenced their employment for the mayor’s office, according to police reports. Khudaynazar allegedly said “we both work for the city of Boston, we both work for the Mayor’s Office,” according to a police report.
In the lawsuit, Khudaynazar claims she was conveying to police that she was familiar with city and police procedure and knew her rights, including her right to speak to a supervisor.
“Khudaynazar did not intend to use her status as a City employee to avoid Mr. Huang’s arrest,” the lawsuit said. “She had no power to wield, she is in her 20s, it’s her second job out of college, it was clear from Mr. Huang’s apartment that they were not higherups with any influence.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Wu, a “powerful alumna,” engineered Khudaynazar’s removal from Emerge Massachusetts, a Democratic training organization for women. Wu wanted “to punish and deplatform her and quiet any story about Mr. Idowu,” the suit said.
Emerge Board Chair Sharon Stout denied these accusations to the Globe and said Khudaynazar had reached out for advice and support after her arrest.
“We never spoke to Mayor Wu about this,” Stout told the Globe after the lawsuit. “We did not remove [Khudaynazar]. We offered her the chance to come back and graduate with the 2026 class once this all would be resolved and her life would be back on an emotional track.”
Khudaynazar says she never assaulted police
Khudaynazar, who pleaded not guilty to assault and battery on a police officer, also claims that she did not banger the officer in the chest, a claim allegedly backed up by body lens footage.
Wu said at the time that “it’s never okay to harm a police officer or to harm another member of our community,” according to the lawsuit. Wu should not comment publicly on personnel matters, the lawsuit argues, as it is not the city’s policy to do so.
When Payne, a white officer said “Am I speaking English?” to Khudaynazar, she claimed the statement was racist, as she is a non-white immigrant who speaks fluent English. She replied, “you don’t have to be a d– to me,” according to the lawsuit, and Payne immediately arrested her, claiming it was because she banger the other officer.
The city terminated her, however, before reviewing the body lens footage, Khudaynazar claims, due to her statements to police about going on a date with Idowu.
“Mr. Idowu propositioning and/or having casual sex with younger office staff disrupts operations, not Khudaynazar telling police she works for the City,” the lawsuit said. “The City and Wu did not want this to see the light of day.”
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