The New York prosecutor reinvestigating horrifying gang-rape accusations against seven Cornell fraternity brothers defended the decision not to previously press charges — saying the students were “disgusting, despicable and clearly wrong morally,” but not criminal.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told Fox News Tuesday morning that even the latest allegations in the accuser’s lawsuit will only lead to charges against the so-called “Cornell Seven if the new investigation unearths “new evidence that we don’t know about.”
He expressed horror at the behavior of the accused Chi Phi fraternity brothers — Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar — but maintained the accuser’s written testimony did not prove she was drugged and gang raped.
“Back in November of 2024, my office reviewed a very detailed, six-page, single-spaced statement that was carefully provided by Jane Doe,” the DA said.
It included “20 handwritten corrections,” giving them confidence it was the accuser’s full story of what happened in the frat house in Ithaca, NY, Van Houten said.
“That document was thorough, it was comprehensive, it was candid — it said exactly everything that happened,” he maintained.
“While … the conduct of these men was disgusting, despicable, and clearly wrong morally, the allegations, if accepted as true, did not allege violations of the penal law,” he said. “There’s no probable cause to charge these men at that point with crimes.”
That includes key parts of her latest allegations, the DA insisted, including her claim in the lawsuit that she “was plied by the fraternity brothers to take drugs.”
“That’s not coerced. That is not forced. She took them voluntarily. And her statement specifically says she agreed to take the ketamine,” Van Houten stated.
Even the grim screenshot of a Snapchat message one of the accused bros sent promising the others they could get “free p—y” with the drugged accuser is “not relevant to the issue of whether Jane Doe consented to what was happening,” the DA stressed.
“It’s disgusting, it’s morally despicable … But it’s not dispositive as it relates to the penal law definition of consent.”
The accuser filed a lawsuit on Sept. 14, alleging that when she complained, Cornell University did not take serious action — and just made the seven frat bros write essays about the incident, something Cornell has strongly denied.
That showed the “free p—y” Snapchat and also her claims that she was drugged.
The prosecutor confirmed that the case is being reinvestigated because of it — saying that but has still yet to see anything criminal.
“We haven’t heard from her in two years, but clearly she has gained insight and has learned things and has processed things that may be new evidence,” he explained.
“So in the interest of justice, we want to put this case before the grand jury so that all the evidence can be considered, not just what we knew back in November of 2024.”
“We don’t know what the new evidence is yet. We’re hoping that Jane Doe and her attorney can cooperate with us, and they have said that they will,” he said.
Van Houten, Cornell University and the Cornell police department did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The lawyer for Kretzschmar, one of the seven fraternity brothers named in the suit, slammed it as “not only intentionally dishonest but morally repugnant” in a statement to The Post on Monday.
He said he “welcomes any further investigation by the District Attorney who already determined not to bring charges,” in his statement.
Attorney information for the other six men named in the lawsuit wasn’t available at the time of publication.
