New York prosecutors reopen investigation into alleged gang rape at Cornell fraternity
The Tompkins County district attorney announced a renewed review of a case involving a student who alleges she was drugged and assaulted by members of the Chi Phi fraternity, after discrepancies were noted between her civil lawsuit and earlier police statements.
Prosecutors in Tompkins County said they are reopening the investigation into an alleged gang rape that occurred at a Cornell University fraternity house in October 2024. The review follows a civil lawsuit filed by a 20-year-old student that contains statements she says differ markedly from the account she gave to police two years earlier.
District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News the office will present the case to a grand jury with the plaintiff’s cooperation, seeking to determine whether new evidence could alter the prior assessment of criminal conduct.
According to the plaintiff’s attorneys, only two members of the Chi Phi fraternity were expelled after the incident, while the other five faced disciplinary measures such as essays, workshops or short suspensions, and none were arrested. The student alleges she was drugged with a substance presented as ketamine and subsequently assaulted by multiple fraternity members, a claim she reported to campus police three weeks after the event.
Cornell’s vice-president for university relations, Kyle Kimball, described the allegations as “deeply disturbing” and said the university’s civil rights, student conduct and community standards offices conducted inquiries at the time. He noted that the Xi chapter of Chi Phi remains barred from campus and that privacy laws limit disclosure of individual disciplinary actions.
The student’s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, said no legal action has been taken against the alleged perpetrators and criticized the handling of the case by university and district attorney officials. He also disputed the district attorney’s interpretation of the original police complaint, emphasizing that the plaintiff’s statements regarding drug use differ from the current lawsuit.
The case has attracted public attention, including comments from actress Florence Pugh on social media, urging broader discussion of accountability and cultural change.