Two lawsuit defendants seek James’s removal from Cornell case
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday that Jacqueline Kelly will serve as outside counsel and lead a reopened criminal investigation into gang rape allegations at Cornell University. Kelly, a Cornell alumna and partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, previously led the civil rights unit in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office’s criminal division and oversaw sex crimes cases against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and fashion executive Peter Nygård.
The investigation was spurred by a former student’s September lawsuit alleging that several men raped her at a fraternity party in October 2024. Kelly and a team of lawyers and investigators from Boies Schiller Flexner and the attorney general’s office will gather evidence, interview witnesses, review investigative records and reports, and analyze the facts and applicable law, James said. The team will report to James, whom Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed as special prosecutor last month.
James, a Democrat, made the announcement a day after winning election to a third term. James said in a statement, “Jacqueline Kelly is a seasoned prosecutor who has overseen numerous cases from investigation through trial.” She added, “With her criminal legal expertise, commitment to public service, and judicial experience, I am confident that she will lead a fair and comprehensive investigation.”
Kelly, a Columbia Law School graduate, was a prosecutor in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office for nearly a decade and led the civil rights unit in the office’s criminal division. Her work included overseeing investigations and prosecutions of civil-rights offenses, voting-rights violations, sex crimes and hate crimes. She left last year to join Boies Schiller Flexner and will remain with the firm while she conducts the Cornell investigation.
Kelly said, “All New Yorkers deserve a fair and thorough inquiry into the facts of this case.” She added, “I look forward to lending my years of experience as a federal prosecutor to the Office of the Attorney General as we examine all available evidence.”
Separately, two men named as defendants in the former student’s lawsuit want James removed from the investigation. They argue that James is biased because of a social-media post she made before her appointment expressing support for the accuser. A judge has not ruled on their request.
Hochul appointed James on Oct. 1, saying she had lost faith in Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who declined to bring charges in 2024. Van Houten said he would restart the investigation after the former student’s lawsuit, but the accuser’s lawyer said the district attorney was preparing to take the matter to a grand jury within two weeks. James has said her investigation will take months.
The former Cornell student, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, alleged in her lawsuit that some of the men pressured her into using ketamine and marijuana and that she drank alcohol that left her too intoxicated to consent. A few weeks later, she said, she made reports to campus police and the university’s Title IX office.
The case roiled Cornell, an Ivy League institution, and raised questions about how universities, police departments and local prosecutors respond to campus sexual assaults. Last month, Cornell hired former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review how the school investigates sexual assault and sexual harassment, how its disciplinary process works and the campus police response.
As a federal prosecutor, Kelly supervised the prosecution of former Manhattan neurologist Ricardo Cruciani, who killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on federal charges after his conviction in state court for molesting patients. She also supervised the prosecution of Bronx music teacher Jesus Concepcion, who was sentenced in 2024 to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing five students. Kelly also took on the mafia, prosecuting a dozen members of the Lucchese crime family.
At Boies Schiller Flexner, Kelly focuses on regulatory and criminal investigations and represents victims of sexual assault and other crimes. The firm, co-founded by lawyer David Boies, is known for representing victims of the late Jeffrey Epstein and for corporate clients including Amazon and the defunct health technology company Theranos.
James’s office is geared toward civil litigation and consumer protection and has turned to outside counsel in the past to assist in investigations. In 2021, James appointed former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim and employment lawyer Anne Clark to conduct a non-criminal investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The investigation led to Cuomo’s resignation, and Cuomo denied the findings in the lawyers’ report.