Cornell Civil Suit Prompts New Investigation of 2024 Allegations

Cornell University and seven former Chi Phi fraternity members are defendants in a civil lawsuit alleging a sexual assault during an October 2024 encounter. The defendants deny the allegations, and none has been criminally charged. The case has prompted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to appoint Attorney General Letitia James to lead a criminal investigation. The lawsuit, filed September 16, 2026, also names Chi Phi. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, alleges that the fraternity members sexually assaulted her at a party at the fraternity house in Ithaca. Her account says she was intoxicated and pressured to take drugs and alcohol. These allegations have not been established in court. The accounts of the encounter are contested. Matthew Ingalls, one of the former fraternity members named in the suit, told a Cornell Title IX investigator that he was too intoxicated to consent and alleged that Doe sexually assaulted him. The account is based on school records reviewed by ABC News. Doe’s lawyer rejected Ingalls’s allegation, according to a statement reported in the supplied accounts.