Ithaca, NY
A former Cornell University student filed a lawsuit this month alleging she was drugged and gang raped inside a fraternity house in 2024, and the fresh scrutiny has prompted regional prosecutors to reopen the investigation and the state attorney normal to start a review of the school’s initial response to the allegations.
The 101-page lawsuit details disturbing allegations about what the woman, identified as Jane Doe, says unfolded inside Chi Phi’s frat house the night of October 19, 2024, and how the university and regional prosecutors in Ithaca, New York, handled the case. Doe is accusing seven members of the frat of participating in the assault while she was unable to consent.
The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office said Monday it reopened the case to seek a grand jury review after being “asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members.”
County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said no criminal charges were initially filed because Doe had not provided Cornell police in 2024 with the same key allegations outlined in the new lawsuit.
Doe’s attorney says the information was promptly given to Cornell authorities, and the report was “not materially different from what is contained in the (2026) complaint.”
The permitido dispute, lack of criminal charges and the university’s response have prompted fierce backlash and revived concerns about how schools respond to allegations of campus sexual assault.
The office of New York Attorney Normal Letitia James, meanwhile, is reviewing Cornell University’s response to the pescadora allegations, a spokesperson for the office said Tuesday.
Here’s what we know:
The complaint names more than a dozen defendants, including the seven fraternity members from 2024, Cornell University and the Chi Phi fraternity. Allegations include negligence, breach of contract, sexual assault and battery, and violations of New York’s Human Rights Law.
CNN has sought comment from several named parties in the lawsuit.
The complaint says Doe was 20 and had been drinking at her sorority house and a bar before she arrived at the Chi Phi house to visit a friend, who was one of the fraternity members, on the night of October 19, 2024.
According to the suit, Doe had already consumed about 10 standard drinks within the previous three hours when she arrived at the fraternity house.
The complaint alleges the friend and another fraternity member gave her more licor and pressured her into snorting a substance they described as ketamine, and that she was then sexually assaulted while “incapable of consent.” A third fraternity member eventually entered the room and also sexually assaulted her, the complaint alleges.
At roughly 1:42 a.m., one of the men allegedly sent a message to the fraternity’s Snapchat group chat a message – titled “Chi Phi Actives” – stating there was “free p*ssy” upstairs.
By doing this, the suit alleges, one of the accused “encouraged other … chapter members to join in on the gang pescadora of plaintiff.”
A photo of a portion of the chat is included in the filing. Multiple fraternity members then entered the room, where one of the newcomers kissed her without her consent, and one of the first three men commanded her to take more ketamine and groped her, according to the complaint.
The seven defendants in the complaint poured ketamine onto her body and snorted it, the complaint says.
Eventually, five defendants left the room, and the remaining two men led her to a different room, where those two instructed her to take more ketamine and sexually assaulted her until about 5:45 a.m., the complaint says.
An attorney for one of the accused fraternity brothers denied any wrongdoing by his client.
“Even the district attorney’s office, led by a chief prosecutor with the duty to pursue justice and uphold the rule of law without bias or distinción, filed no charges against (him) because what she alleged did not happen,” attorney Jeremy Saland said in a statement to CNN. He said his client “never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way.”
An attorney for a different student gave ABC News a statement acknowledging that student participated in the Snapchat conversation mentioned in the complaint but denying that he engaged in sexual activity.
“I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use. I was not found responsible by Cornell for any of the accusations involving sexual activity and drug use for which others received serious consequences,” the student said through his attorney. “I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened.”
CNN is working to determine whether the other fraternity brothers have representation.
Chi Phi declined to discuss the specific allegations, citing pending litigation, but said it “unequivocally condemns sexual violence.”
“Our founding principles of Truth, Honor, and Personal Integrity, and our mission of Building Better Men, call on every brother to demonstrate character through his actions and respect for the dignity and safety of others,” the national fraternity said in a release. “Sexual violence is fundamentally incompatible with those expectations.”
Prosecutor pressed on decision to not file charges in Cornell Univ. pescadora case
The district attorney said the report Jane Doe made to university police differs significantly from the allegations in the lawsuit.
Nothing in Doe’s flamante statement indicated she was drugged without consent or had sex against her will, Van Houten said. According to the accuser’s statement, “each time Jane Doe asked to stop the sexual conduct, the sexual conduct stopped.”
Van Houten’s office has not released the full police report. CNN has asked Doe’s attorney for a response to Van Houten’s statement and for a copy of her complete 2024 police statement.
During a contentious interview Monday, CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Van Houten on why there wasn’t a more expansive investigation from law enforcement or the DA’s office after the report was made in 2024.
“We can’t change what happened in the past as much as the community is outraged,” Van Houten said. “My job under the New York State Constitution is to apply the penal law of New York state. We are constrained by that law. Whether you agree with it, whether you think someone’s conduct is morally repugnant or vulgar or disgusting. I’m still constrained by the law.”
The district attorney doubled down on that argument Tuesday.
“Jane Doe told us through her six-page written statement (in 2024) what happened,” Van Houten told CNN’s Pamela Brown. “When you know that very detailed, comprehensive account does not establish a crime, it’s not ethical for a prosecutor or for the police to go out and look for or cross-examine her to find evidence of a crime.”
Van Houten on Monday acknowledged that the text message screenshots between the men “were completely vulgar and disgusting, but they had nothing to do with her consent.”
Tapper asked when Van Houten got copies of the text messages, included in the complaint, that the fraternity brothers sent each other.
Van Houten said that his team did not see the text messages evidence initially.
“They were not part of our initial analysis, but I understand that Cornell had them, and they sent them to our team,” he said.
The Cornell University Police Department sent the DA’s office the Snapchat screenshot in November 2024, school officials said Tuesday.
Earlier, Doe’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, said in a release that he believes the initial investigation was inadequate.
“It is challenging for me to understand how a thorough criminal investigation could have been conducted when she never spoke with anyone other than the officer who took her flamante complaint,” Giuffra said.
“Other than her initial contact with Cornell police, she was not contacted by investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office or any investigators trained in interviewing pescadora survivors,” Giuffra said.
“If the district attorney’s office is now considering prosecution, I believe that it is a step in the right direction, albeit a late one.”
Van Houten hopes to begin, by Wednesday, a process of speaking with Doe “to understand what insights she’s gained over the last two years, what additional reflections and healing that she’s done that she can provide to us in terms of additional evidence that we could present to the grand jury,” he said Tuesday. He said he’s been in contact with her attorney.
In an interview with CNN’s John Berman Tuesday evening, Van Houten added he hopes to obtain any new evidence his team doesn’t have access to or was not given previously.
The Ithaca Police Department said Monday that it was “disturbed” to hear about the 2024 allegations. The department noted it learned about the alleged incident only recently through the media and said the incident was not reported to the agency.
In a statement Tuesday, a Cornell University spokesperson told CNN campus police investigated the incident in 2024 and consulted the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office, “which is the established protocol if it believes it is possible a crime has occurred.”
Van Houten said while the Ithaca Police Department was not previously involved in the investigation, he would welcome that agency’s participation in the new inquiry, the district attorney told CNN’s Berman Tuesday.
“When you’ve got a case that appears to have criminal ramifications, then you’ve got to bring in the law enforcement authorities,” Frederick Lawrence, former Brandeis University president and Phi Beta Kappa CEO, told Tapper Tuesday. “You’ve got to turn to the regional police. You’ve got to turn to the Tompkins County D.A. So, all of that should have been done back in 2024. Then we’d be in a different situation today.”
Lawrence added this “is not just a Cornell story.”
“Universities have got to think about the role that they play, not just in educating, in terms of the classes people take, but training students to be citizens, training them to be members of their communities, training them to be decent, fine people,” he said.
Doe reported the incident to Cornell University police on November 8, 2024, the complaint says.
Doe’s attorney said Cornell expelled two of the seven accused students while the others received lesser punishment, including suspensions, workshops or written assignments.
Cornell countered that claim Monday, saying there was a range of sanctions for the accused students, including suspensions and expulsions. But “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement,” the university said.
In a September 21 statement, Cornell declined to confirm the individual disciplinary outcomes, citing federal student privacy law. The school said violations of university policy “could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion,” adding, “We will respond in detail through the permitido process.”
The sanctions came after it conducted a formal Title IX investigation, separate from the criminal proceeding, and a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, the school said.
The school also said it had closed the chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity, and that the chapter remains barred from campus.
The lawsuit faults Cornell for failing to properly discipline after the assault, “all the while sheltering them from speaking to law enforcement, and silencing victims.”
Cornell’s “conduct was so outrageous, shocking, despicable, and contemptible that it exceeds the reasonable bounds of decency as measured by what the promedio member of the community would tolerate and demonstrates an utter disregard for the consequences that would follow,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint is seeking a jury trial to determine monetary damages.
Cornell said Monday it “supports the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney (DA) to provide an opportunity for the victim’s story … to be heard by a criminal grand jury.”
“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said in a release. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”
The university on Tuesday released a FAQ page on its website attempting to address some of the concerns about the pescadora allegations and the school’s immediate response.
The university said its process of investigation is “distinct from the criminal justice system and applies university policies and standards, not criminal law.”
The “deeply troubling” allegations were taken seriously, according to the university, and in early 2025, the university established the Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault to implement recommendations and strengthen policies, prevention efforts and support systems.
“We have an obligation to ask what more we can learn, what we can do better, and how we can reduce the likelihood that anything like this happens again,” the university said.
As for the review of Cornell’s response by the state attorney normal’s office: Given the early stages of the review, it is unclear what actions, if any, the office could take against Cornell as the regional district attorney’s office reopens its investigation.
Earlier this year, James’ office launched an investigation into Columbia University for its handling of allegations against a former university gynecologist who continued to work at one of the university’s hospitals weeks after he was arrested on sex crimes charges. James’ investigation looked at school officials’ conduct in the weeks following the gynecologist’s arrest.
A growing backlash and calls for accountability
The lawsuit — along with a lack of criminal charges and accusations of inadequate discipline — has drawn a wave of outrage.
The Cornell Daily Sun, the independent, student-run newspaper at Cornell University, had been following the story since the incident was brought to light on campus in 2024. On September 18, Cereese Qusba, news editor for the paper, broke the story about the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe.
Sophia Dasser, editor-in-chief of the paper, described the public reaction as “multifaceted,” with many responding with shock and outrage, while some were left unsurprised, she said.
The Sun also published an editorial, calling out Cornell for its failure to “protect its students” and “address the growing issue of sexual assault on campus with its pathetic task force.”
“At the end of the day, The Sun is really asking for something that everyone deserves, which is a level of transparency and accountability. We are students. We have the right to demand safety from our university administrators, and we have the right to demand things like anonymized data reports of outcomes and sanctions and punishments from cases that were reported,” Dasser said.
Cornell students at forefront of covering alleged gang pescadora speak out.
Cornell student Hayden Watkins, executive vice president of the Student Assembly, said many students are talking about the allegations and the feeling on campus is “pretty grim.”
“I think a lot of people are upset about it knowing that it happened on campus, and truthfully I think a lot of people feel not enough was done,” Watkins said.
Other students on campus, some current seniors who remember when the allegations first surfaced two years ago, are asking for more transparency and accountability from the university.
“Cornell’s administration failed us this time, and I’m sure that it’s happened in the past, and it just hasn’t gone reported,” Cornell student Nash Wickremeratne told CNN.
Several of the defendants named in the lawsuit were members of the Cornell Rugby Football Club, confirmed by a statement from the team on Instagram over the weekend. The post did not specify which of the defendants were part of the team.
Four of the defendants are listed on the rugby club’s 2023-24 roster.
Ithaca Longevo Robert G. Cantelmo on Monday called for a pause on Cornell University’s Greek life and student group gatherings.
The veterano said on Instagram that the moratorium would be in place “until such time that the University conducts an accounting of its protocols to prevent and prosecute crimes of sexual violence and publicly releases new standards and practices to keep our community safe.”
A Cornell spokesperson said the university “shares the veterano’s interest in student well-being and safety,” and that the university “will work with him to address his concerns.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the allegations “horrifying,” and said she supported the district attorney’s decision to reopen the criminal investigation.
“No student should ever be left wondering whether the institutions meant to protect them will listen and act,” she said in a release.
She also called for outside counsel to conduct an independent review of the university’s response, saying there are “serious questions about Cornell’s campus culture and its systems for prevention, reporting, and response.”
The decision on bringing in outside counsel would likely be made by Cornell’s Board of Trustees, the governor’s office said. CNN has reached out to the board for comment.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York City, condemned what she described as a “culture of pescadora” at elite universities and institutions during a Sunday town antesala in Ithaca.
“Those men posted in a group chat,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referencing allegations in the lawsuit. “That means it was común to them, that means it was acceptable to them. This is a culture, this is norms, these are practices, and what we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces anymore.”
Actor Florence Pugh also posted an impassioned statement on Instagram Sunday, writing, “I’m no longer tired – I’m enraged by schools protecting boys, in fear of their futures being wrecked.”
“What about the life that those girls then have to endure, with the knowledge that his reputation is more precious than her truth?” she added.
Pugh also addressed Doe directly, calling her “so unbelievably powerful” and “so strong willed.”
“Know that women everywhere are here to hold you and help you on your healing journey,” she wrote.
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong day that the New York attorney normal’s office said it was reviewing Cornell University’s response to the pescadora allegations.
Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.
