Prosecutors in Tompkins County are reopening a criminal case they closed in 2024, after a former Cornell University student sued the school and seven fraternity members over an alleged gang rape.
District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News on Monday, Sept. 28, that his office will take the case to a grand jury if the woman agrees to help. “It’s our intention to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with Jane Doe’s cooperation,” he said. He said his office wants to check for evidence it did not have in November 2024.
The woman, who court papers call Jane Doe, filed a 101-page lawsuit on Sept. 14 in New York Supreme Court. She was 20 when the events took place, on the night of Oct. 19 to Oct. 20, 2024. She says she went to the Chi Phi fraternity house to see a friend after drinking at a bar.
Doe alleges two men pressured her to snort a powder they called ketamine. She also says she was given marijuana and more alcohol. She alleges the men then assaulted her, and that a member sent a message to a Snapchat group at about 1:42 a.m. that brought 5 more men into the room. She says the assault lasted several hours.
The suit names seven men as defendants: Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar. It also names Cornell, the Chi Phi chapter and national organization, a sorority, a bar in Ithaca and others. Doe seeks compensatory and punitive damages. The filing does not state an amount.
Doe reported the incident to Cornell police in November 2024. The university held at least 12 hearings. Her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, says only two of the seven men were expelled. He says the others received suspensions, workshops or essays.
“Not one of these guys was arrested,” Giuffra told CBS News, New York. He said Doe left the university. “She’s barely hanging on for what these guys did to her,” he said.
Van Houten said his office did not press charges in 2024 because Doe’s first statement to police did not say she was drugged or that she had not consented. He said the lawsuit describes the night “dramatically differently.”
The defendants deny wrongdoing or have not yet responded. Jeremy Saland, the lawyer for Kretzschmar, disputes Doe’s account. He says the defense has documents, witness statements and scientific evidence that contradict it. No one has been convicted, and a court has not tested any of the claims.
Cornell issued a statement on Sept. 21. It said federal privacy law stops it from sharing the discipline of individual students. It said the Chi Phi chapter “remains barred from our campus.” Vice President Kyle Kimball wrote: “We take sexual violence extremely seriously.” The university said a task force on campus sexual assault issued its report in March 2026.
The Chi Phi national office said it “unequivocally condemns sexual violence.” It said it cannot discuss the claims while the case continues.
The case has caused an uproar on social media with many posters on X saying an essay is absurdly light for alleged gang rape. Phrases like “an essay as punishment” and “rapist university” have spread across the platform.
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People called Cornell’s statement a box-ticking exercise, especially since Cornell went back to routine posting. Others note the two-year gap between the 2024 incident and the news, and some suspect donor or legacy influence.
Alumni are pledging to withdraw donations, and some say they chose other schools or would never send their daughters there.
Hollywood actress Florence Pugh also posted in support of the plaintiff, urging men to speak out. She says Instagram partly restricted her post on the case.
