Tuesday | 29th September 2026
NEW YORK — Prosecutors in New York are reopening a criminal investigation into an alleged gang rape involving a former Cornell University student after the woman filed a civil lawsuit accusing the university and members of a fraternity of failing to protect her and properly respond to the alleged assault.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that a grand jury will review the case to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. The renewed investigation follows the filing of a 101-page civil complaint earlier this month that contains allegations substantially different from the account the woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, gave to police in 2024.
Van Houten said his office’s original decision in November 2024 not to bring criminal charges was legally justified based on the evidence and information available to investigators at the time. At the same time, he acknowledged that survivors of sexual assault may need considerable time to process traumatic experiences and come to understand or describe what happened.
“The decision made in November of 2024 that the evidence did not support the filing of criminal charges was legally correct,” Van Houten said in a statement. “At the same time, I recognize the reality that it can take years of therapy and healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process and understand what happened to them.”
The grand jury is expected to hear testimony from Doe and consider evidence presented in connection with the new civil lawsuit, including communications allegedly exchanged by members of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity.
The case has generated renewed scrutiny of Cornell’s handling of sexual-assault complaints, the relationship between university disciplinary proceedings and criminal investigations, and the way law enforcement evaluates allegations involving alcohol, drugs and questions of consent.
Allegations in the civil lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, Doe was 20 years old when the alleged assault occurred at the Chi Phi fraternity house on October 19, 2024.
The complaint alleges that Doe had been drinking at her sorority house and later at a bar before going to the fraternity house to visit a friend. The lawsuit says she had consumed approximately 10 standard alcoholic drinks during the preceding three hours.
The complaint further alleges that after she arrived at the fraternity house, the friend and another fraternity member provided her with additional alcohol and pressured her to take a substance they described as ketamine.
The lawsuit claims that Doe subsequently became incapable of giving meaningful consent and was sexually assaulted by members of the fraternity.
One of the most significant pieces of evidence described in the lawsuit is an alleged Snapchat group message. At approximately 1:42 a.m., the complaint says, one fraternity member posted a message to a group called “Chi Phi Actives” inviting other members to come upstairs.
The lawsuit alleges that the message encouraged other members to participate in the assault. A screenshot of part of the alleged exchange was included in the court filing.
According to the complaint, additional fraternity members subsequently entered the room. The lawsuit alleges that Doe was pressured to take more ketamine and that the sexual assault continued for several hours, ending at approximately 5:45 a.m.
The allegations have not been proven in court, and none of the seven fraternity members named in the complaint has been criminally charged in connection with the alleged assault.
Why prosecutors are looking at the case again
The alleged group-chat messages could become an important part of the renewed investigation because the district attorney’s office says investigators did not have them when the original decision was made.
Former federal prosecutor Berit Berger told CNN that digital communications can potentially provide investigators with evidence about what occurred and what participants knew or intended. She also noted that delays can make criminal investigations more difficult because witnesses may graduate, relocate or have difficulty remembering events that occurred years earlier.
Van Houten said his office has now received the messages from Cornell.
“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 renewed review therefore gives prosecutors an opportunity to examine evidence that was apparently not included in the original criminal investigation, while also comparing the allegations in the civil lawsuit with Doe’s earlier statement to police.
Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police on November 8, 2024, according to the lawsuit.
The Ithaca Police Department said Monday that it was “disturbed” by the allegations but had not previously received a report concerning the incident. The department said it learned about the allegations only recently through media reports.
Dispute over Doe’s original police statement
The central dispute between the district attorney and Doe’s attorney concerns the difference between what Doe reportedly told police in 2024 and what she now alleges in the civil lawsuit.
Van Houten said the original statement described Doe’s participation in drug use and sexual activity as voluntary, conscious and consensual.
He said the civil lawsuit, by contrast, does not describe the sexual contact as consensual and alleges that Doe had been drugged and was incapable of giving consent.
Van Houten said the original account indicated that whenever Doe asked for sexual activity to stop, it stopped. Based on that information, prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish the lack of consent necessary to pursue criminal charges under the law as they understood it at the time.
The district attorney’s office has not publicly released the complete police report.
CNN has contacted Doe’s attorney for a response to Van Houten’s characterization of the original statement and has asked for a copy of Doe’s complete 2024 police statement.
During a contentious interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Van Houten defended the original decision, saying prosecutors were required to apply New York criminal law rather than make a decision based solely on whether the alleged conduct was morally disturbing.
“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.”
Van Houten said the alleged fraternity members’ messages were “completely vulgar and disgusting,” but he maintained that the messages themselves did not establish whether Doe had consented to the sexual activity.
Debate over intoxication and consent
The case has also highlighted a complicated question surrounding New York’s legal treatment of intoxication, drug use and consent.
Van Houten said New York law recognizes “mental incapacitation” in circumstances where a person cannot control their conduct because they were drugged without consent. He argued that the evidence available to prosecutors in 2024 indicated Doe voluntarily consumed alcohol and drugs.
Berger told CNN that the case illustrates what she described as a potential deficiency in New York law. She said that in some circumstances, voluntarily consuming alcohol or drugs can make it more difficult for prosecutors to establish the legal requirements necessary to prove lack of consent.
Doe’s attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, strongly disputed the suggestion that New York law provides a loophole allowing an intoxicated person to be sexually assaulted without legal consequences.
Giuffra argued that the central issue should be whether Doe was capable of consenting to the sexual conduct at the time it occurred.
“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 original complaint,” Giuffra previously told CNN.
He said Doe was not interviewed by investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office or by investigators specifically trained to interview survivors of sexual assault.
Giuffra said the reopening of the investigation was welcome, although he described it as coming much later than it should have.
Cornell’s handling of the case
The lawsuit also accuses Cornell University of failing to impose appropriate discipline and of protecting the fraternity members from law enforcement.
The complaint alleges that Cornell suspended the Chi Phi chapter and the seven students identified in connection with the alleged assault. It further claims that the students were given opportunities to mitigate their disciplinary consequences through written assignments.
Cornell has denied that characterization.
The university said it conducted a formal Title IX investigation separate from the criminal investigation. According to Cornell, a panel of trained faculty and staff considered evidence over multiple days before disciplinary decisions were made.
Cornell said the accused students received a range of sanctions, including suspensions and expulsions, and specifically denied that any student was offered an essay as the sole consequence for involvement in the case.
The university has declined to publicly identify individual disciplinary outcomes because of federal student privacy requirements.
“Any suggestion that the University did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said.
The university also said the Xi chapter of Chi Phi was barred from campus and that it established a sexual-assault task force after the incident. Cornell said it has subsequently implemented several recommendations made by the task force.
Doe’s attorney has disputed Cornell’s description of the disciplinary process, saying two of the seven students were expelled while others received lesser sanctions, including suspensions, workshops or written assignments.
Those competing accounts are likely to become an important issue in the civil litigation.
Attorneys for accused students deny wrongdoing
Attorneys representing some of the fraternity members have rejected the allegations.
Jeremy Saland, an attorney representing one of the accused students, said his client denied wrongdoing and maintained that he never sexually assaulted or touched Doe.
Another defense attorney, Andrew Miltenberg, said the allegations now being made publicly differ from what was reported and investigated in 2024.
The attorneys said the allegations would be addressed through the appropriate legal process.
The seven fraternity members named in the lawsuit have not been criminally charged.
Doe describes lasting trauma
Doe has publicly described the alleged assault as the most traumatic experience of her life.
In a statement to CNN, she said she had attended Cornell with the expectation of receiving an education and building a future, but said the alleged assault left her physically and emotionally injured.
“What I experienced from those who raped me in the fraternity was the worst experience of my life,” Doe said. “I was brutalized and it injured me physically but perhaps more importantly, emotionally.”
She said she continues to struggle with the consequences of the alleged assault and that the experience affects nearly every part of her life.
Giuffra also said Doe remained at Cornell after the alleged incident and continued to encounter some of the students involved. He said her family attempted to have her leave the university but alleged that Cornell refused to allow her to withdraw without financial consequences.
CNN has contacted Cornell for comment regarding that allegation.
Broader concerns over sexual assault at Cornell
The case has attracted attention beyond the parties directly involved because it comes amid broader concerns about sexual violence on college campuses.
A 2025 Cornell survey found that approximately 35% of undergraduate women who responded reported experiencing “nonconsensual sexual contact” during their time at the university, compared with 23% in the university’s 2023 survey.
The figures have added to the debate over how universities prevent sexual misconduct, respond to complaints and support students who report assaults.
The lawsuit has also prompted public reactions from political figures and celebrities.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, criticized what she characterized as a broader culture surrounding sexual violence at elite universities during a town hall in Ithaca.
Actor Florence Pugh also addressed the allegations in a social-media post, expressing anger over what she described as institutions prioritizing the futures and reputations of accused men over women who report sexual violence.
Those comments have contributed to public pressure on Cornell and local authorities, although the allegations in the lawsuit remain allegations and are subject to legal proceedings.
Ithaca mayor calls for pause in Greek life activities
Ithaca Mayor Robert G. Cantelmo also responded to the controversy by calling for a temporary pause in Cornell’s Greek-life activities and student-group gatherings.
Cantelmo said the pause should remain in effect until the university reviews its procedures for preventing and responding to sexual violence and publicly releases updated standards intended to improve campus safety.
The mayor’s intervention underscores the extent to which the dispute has expanded beyond the university and into the wider Ithaca community.
Grand jury will now review the allegations
The immediate focus is now on the Tompkins County grand jury, which will consider Doe’s testimony and evidence presented in connection with the civil complaint.
The renewed investigation does not mean that criminal charges have been filed or that prosecutors have determined that the allegations are proven. A grand jury review is part of the criminal process through which prosecutors can present evidence and seek a determination regarding potential charges.
The case also illustrates the difficulties that can arise when criminal investigations, university disciplinary proceedings and civil litigation proceed on separate tracks.
The original investigation ended without criminal charges in November 2024. Nearly two years later, the civil lawsuit has brought forward additional allegations and evidence, including the alleged fraternity group-chat communications, prompting prosecutors to revisit the case.
For Doe, the renewed investigation represents another opportunity to have her allegations examined. For the accused fraternity members and Cornell, the civil lawsuit and renewed criminal review bring renewed scrutiny and the possibility of further legal proceedings.
The central questions — including what occurred inside the fraternity house, whether Doe was capable of consenting to the sexual activity, what evidence was available to investigators in 2024, and what new evidence can now be established — will ultimately have to be resolved through the legal process.