New York’s top law enforcement official is taking over what she labeled as a mishandled criminal investigation by the local district attorney that came to light after a newly filed lawsuit accused a group of fraternity members at Cornell University of gang raping a college sophomore in 2024 while she was drunk, drugged and incapable of consent.
Governor Kathy Hochul said police and local prosecutors “failed” the accuser as she appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James to lead the case, which is now an “active criminal investigation,” James told reporters in Manhattan on Friday.
On Thursday night, the governor issued an executive order appointing James as a special prosecutor in a case that has shocked the nation and reinvigorated urgent conversations about sexual assault and campus fraternities while putting a spotlight on one of the country’s top universities.
A new lawsuit filed by the student, identified in court papers as “Jane Doe,” who was a 20-year-old sophomore at the time, said she was fed illegal drugs and alcohol and raped by several men at the Chi Phi fraternity house on October 19, 2024.
She reported the incident to campus police, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
The lawsuit names seven men as well as their fraternity, the university and her sorority. The men have denied wrongdoing.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has defended his office’s decision against criminal charges but he has signaled potentially re-opening the case in recent days as growing calls for accountability dominate headlines.
“What we learned yesterday raised even more troubling questions about what was done, and what was not done, after this woman came forward,” Hochul said Friday.
“In what world would the police learn from a victim that she’d been literally gang-raped while intoxicated by five men in the fraternity house, and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?” she said.
“This woman, this young woman, had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable. And then at every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her,” Hochul added.
The accuser “could not have been clearer that she was 100 percent confident she had been raped,” according to the governor, but “those words never made it into the account.”
Under the executive order, the attorney general will direct the probe and present evidence to a grand jury if necessary.
“Every New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly,” James said in a statement Thursday night. “The governor has entrusted my office with this investigation, and we do not take that responsibility lightly.”
James said she stands “ready to lead a process New Yorkers can trust, guided by the facts and the law.”
The woman’s lawyer Thomas Giuffra said that they were “thrilled” with the announcement.
“We had no faith in DA Van Houten’s ability or desire to actively investigate and prosecute this case,” Giuffra said in a statement.
Court documents indicate that Cornell launched its own investigation after the woman spoke to police, initiating a months-long process beginning in November 2024 and including a hearing in May 2025.
In an announcement on its website, Cornell said its Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards investigated the allegations over several months, including hearings with evidence presented to faculty and staff. The panel later “issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell,” the university said.
The hearings were part of an investigation required under Title IX, the landmark civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination. The panel’s decision was included in documents unsealed in New York this week, revealing extensive details about the incident and its aftermath.
Hochul said the incident has compelled her office to close what she called a “gap” in state law that makes it harder to charge people with rape if the accuser was too intoxicated to consent. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault, period,” Hochul said Friday.
The state legislature is not currently in session, but the case has gripped lawmakers across the state and the issue is likely to be a critical part of the legislative agenda when they convene in January.
James has made headlines in recent years as a prominent foil to Donald Trump, who was the subject of a yearslong investigation from the state attorney general’s office that led to a blockbuster civil fraud trial finding the president, his associates and real estate empire liable for fraud.
James has subsequently joined or led several lawsuits against the Trump administration, challenging threats to federal funding for critical state projects, healthcare and immigration protections, among other issues.
