Cornell provided Snapchat group chat to prosecutors in 2024 fraternity case
Cornell said it provided the district attorney’s office with evidence from its own investigation, including a Snapchat group chat in which fraternity members discussed a “free” sexual encounter with the accuser on the night of the alleged assault. The woman is identified as “Jane Doe” in court documents — a placeholder name sometimes used in US law for privacy or anonymity reasons.
Doe’s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, has accused Van Houten of “repeatedly changing his story” amid news coverage of the case. The BBC has contacted Van Houten’s office for comment.
Van Houten has defended his office’s earlier decision not to file charges, arguing that prosecutors were not given enough evidence to meet the legal threshold. His office reopened the case this week — less than two weeks after the accuser filed her civil lawsuit — and said much of the information released in recent weeks about the case had not been passed to his office.
The case was initially referred to Van Houten, the top prosecutor in Tompkins County, in 2024. Van Houten said his office did not bring charges at the time because he had only seen a statement from Doe implying the incident was consensual and that she had not been drugged.
Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to take over the investigation. “New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I’ve lost faith in the Tompkins County DA’s ability to fairly oversee it,” Hochul said in a statement.
The appointment gives James, the state’s chief legal officer, authority to prosecute any offences that might be found during her investigation and present evidence to a grand jury. “The young woman at the centre of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued,” Hochul said. James said on X that she stood ready “to lead a process guided by the facts and the law.” “The Governor has entrusted my office with this investigation, and we do not take that responsibility lightly,” James added.
Hochul and James are scheduled to provide an update on the investigation Friday morning local time.
The accuser alleged in a civil lawsuit filed against the Ivy League university in September that she was drugged and raped by seven men at a fraternity house in 2024 and that Cornell failed to protect her or adequately punish the men, who have become known in coverage as the “Cornell Seven.”