Alleged Cornell Gang Rape Victim Told Frat Bro Sex Wasn't Illegal ... After He Apologized In Text

Published September 29, 2026 6:54 AM PDT

The woman who claims she was drugged and gang-raped by seven Cornell students inside a frat house texted with one of the men she named in her lawsuit two days after the alleged encounter ... he apologized, and she told him the "sexual stuff" wasn't illegal.

CBS News New York obtained screenshots of a text message conversation between the woman and one of the seven men she sued ... and he apologized for "how things went down."

The frat bro says he should have "shut it down and kick people out before it got way out of hand."

The woman told him her memory was "super clouded too" and said, "non[e] of the sexual stuff was illegal."

CBS News NY says the texts were sent two days after the alleged October 2024 rape ... and the woman's attorney, Thomas Giuffra, confirmed she exchanged texts with the man, but stopped short of verifying the screenshots.

Giuffra previously told TMZ ... the woman reported the alleged 2024 assault to Cornell Police after she processed what allegedly happened to her -- telling police she was drugged with ketamine and gang raped.

However, Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten paints a different picture, saying she described the sex and drug use as "voluntary, conscious, and consensual." Van Houten insists that she never informed police that she was drugged against her will or gang raped.

In addition, Van Houten says her attorney never reached out to him about inaccuracies in the original police report, nor did the lawyer ask to meet with him to talk about the case. In fact, Van Houten says he reached out to her attorney after the lawsuit was filed to try to understand the discrepancies in her original statement.

Van Houten reopened the case and launched a criminal investigation. To date, nobody has been arrested or charged in the case.