Prosecutors in Tompkins County have revived a 2024 case involving allegations that members of a Cornell University fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted a student, according to reporting by TMZ.com published Sunday, September 27, 2026.
Tompkins County D.A. Matthew Van Houten told ABC News that he intends to present the case to a grand jury, and that the alleged victim is cooperating with the renewed effort. No charges were filed when the allegations first surfaced two years ago.
Van Houten pointed to the woman's civil lawsuit as the catalyst for the reversal, telling ABC News that the account in the filing differs sharply from what she initially provided to police. According to Van Houten, her original statement to investigators did not include claims that she had been drugged without her knowledge, coerced into sexual activity, or rendered incapacitated.
Her attorney disputes that characterization, telling ABC News that the woman was never questioned by a detective or prosecutor with specialized training in sexual assault cases after she came forward.
At the center of the dispute is a set of Snapchat messages. Van Houten said his office never reviewed the communications, while the woman's legal team maintains that police possessed them in 2024 and did not pursue them.
The allegations, as TMZ.com has previously reported, involve seven members of the Chi Phi chapter. The woman claims she was given ketamine and sexually assaulted inside the fraternity house, and that one member summoned others by posting a message to the chapter's Snapchat group offering what he described as "free p***y."
Cornell has stated that it conducted its own investigation into the allegations, but the university has declined to disclose any disciplinary outcome, citing federal privacy law. Chi Phi remains barred from campus.
Attorneys representing two of the accused men have denied any wrongdoing on their clients' behalf.
The decision to empanel a grand jury marks a significant shift for a case that had appeared closed, and it signals that prosecutors now believe the evidence — including the civil complaint and the disputed messages — warrants a fresh look. For the Ithaca campus community, the renewed proceedings mean the allegations will once again face formal legal scrutiny, with the grand jury determining whether charges follow.