Newly surfaced testimony from Cornell University’s internal investigation into an alleged 2024 gang rape at a campus fraternity house paints a very different picture than the one laid out in a civil lawsuit — with at least three of the accused men telling investigators that the woman who accused them was the one who initiated sexual contact without their consent.
The accounts, obtained by The New York Times and reported by The Cornell Daily Sun, come from interviews conducted as part of Cornell’s Title IX inquiry into the incident at the Chi Phi fraternity house. The woman, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, has alleged that seven fraternity members drugged and gang-raped her while she was incapacitated.
Cornell’s disciplinary process ultimately sanctioned four of the seven men, with penalties that ranged from expulsion and suspension to disciplinary probation and restrictions on returning to campus. A university Title IX panel concluded that two of the men were responsible for sexual assault, while the others faced lesser sanctions. No criminal charges have been filed.
A Radically Different Version of the Night
According to the internal interview records, one of the accused students, Gillio Lopes, told investigators that Jane Doe initiated sexual contact with him and never asked for his consent. Lopes said he recalled the night with relative clarity and had consumed about six drinks — three Keystone beers and three vodka-and-Hawaiian-Punch cocktails.
He described eventually becoming uncomfortable and leaving the fraternity around 2 a.m., heading to a McDonald’s with three friends. He said he never told his friends about the encounter, in part because he was “embarrassed about what happened.”
Despite his account, Cornell suspended Lopes on the finding that he had sex with Doe without her consent. Records reviewed by The New York Times and reported by The Cornell Daily Sun show he received a three-semester suspension and two years of disciplinary probation.
A second accused man, Winston Lee, gave a similar version of events. He told investigators that Doe initiated sexual activity without first asking for his consent, and that before a later sexual encounter he specifically asked her for consent — to which she replied that they were “all consenting adults.”
Perhaps the most striking testimony came from a third male student, who told investigators that he considered himself a victim of sexual misconduct. In his account, Doe performed oral sex on him while he was “too incapacitated” to consent.
Four Admitted Contact, Three Denied It
In total, four of the seven accused men acknowledged having sexual contact with Doe; three denied participating in any sexual encounter. Their accounts, however, diverged sharply from Doe’s allegations in the civil suit, which claims she was drugged and assaulted while incapacitated.
District Attorney Matthew Van Houten determined there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against any of the seven men after reviewing the case. In a separate interview with Cornell police, Doe said, “I can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”
But Van Houten pointed to a sworn statement Doe signed in November 2024, which his office reviewed, in which she described her participation in the drug use and sexual conduct as “voluntary, conscious, and consensual” — a significant contradiction with her later civil suit.
Text messages related to that night have also surfaced. In one exchange, Doe told one of the men that none of the “sexual stuff” they participated in was “illegal,” adding that she enjoyed the encounter and would like to meet up again.
A Case Reopened Under Political Pressure
Under public pressure, Van Houten agreed to reopen the case, though he made clear the civil suit presented a dramatically different account of events than what Doe had said roughly two years earlier.
New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has since appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor. James, a prominent Democrat and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, now has the authority to oversee the criminal investigation and pursue charges if the evidence warrants.
The developments have drawn national attention as an unusual twist in the ongoing debate over campus sexual misconduct proceedings — where the same evidence can produce no criminal charges yet still yield severe university sanctions. The internal Cornell interviews, containing accounts by the accused that were apparently not sufficient to prevent their punishments, are now central to a case that has become a political lightning rod.
Neither Cornell nor representatives for Jane Doe have publicly addressed the specific contents of the leaked Title IX records. The civil suit against the seven men, the university, the fraternity and others remains ongoing.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/accused-students-flip-the-script-in-cornell-7-case