EXHIBIT(S) - 3. CNN Article

--- Page 1 --- Exhibit 3 FILED: ALBANY COUNTY CLERK 10/07/2026 06:21 PM INDEX NO. 911974-26 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 6 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 10/07/2026 --- Page 2 --- US > CRIME& JUSTICE "12 MIN READ NewYork prosecutors reopen investigation after student files lawsuit over alleged gang rape at Cornell University UPDATEDSEP29,2026 --- Page 3 --- US subscribe Prosecutors in NewYork are reopening an investigation into an alleged gang rape of a former Cornell University student after the womanfiled a civil lawsuit this month claiming the school did not do enough to protect her. A grand jury will review the case to see if any charges are warranted after the original investigation into the alleged 2024 assault resulted in no criminal charges, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday. He said the allegations in the civil complaint this month were significantly different from the woman's statement to police two years ago. "The decision madein November of 2024 that the evidence did not support the filing of criminal charges was legally correct," Van Houten said in a statement provided to CNN. "At the same time, I recognize the reality that it can take years of therapy and healing for victims of sexual assaults to fully process and understand what happened to them." The grand jury will consider the testimony of the former student, identified as Jane Doe, as well as any new evidence raised by the allegations of the civil complaint, Van Houten said. ADVERTISEMENT --- Page 4 --- The disturbing allegations about the assault of Doe have already sparked widespread criticism and again put a spotlight on how universities handle student claims of sexual assault. RELATEDARTICLE An imperfect process: Howcampuses deal with sexual assault 9 MIN READ In the civil complaint, filed September 16, Doe alleges seven membersof Cornell's Chi Phi fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted her at the frat house in October 2024 and invited other fraternity membersin a group chat to join the assault, sharing the photo of a Snapchat group message as part of the suit. None of the fraternity membershave been criminally charged. The complaint alleges temporary suspensions were issued for the seven named students, who it said "were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays" to the university - a claim Cornell denied. ADVERTISEMENT --- Page 5 --- The Ithaca Police Department said in a statement Mondaythat it was "disturbed" to hear about the 2024 allegations. The department noted it learned about the alleged incident only recently through the media and said the incident was not reported to the agency. CNNhas reached out to the Cornell University Police Department, the Chi Phi fraternity and others named in the lawsuit. ·-·. 1 .. ----.,, The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University on Monday. (Heather Ainsworth/AP) --- Page 6 --- The 101-page complaint names more than a dozen defendants, including the seven fraternity membersfrom 2024, Cornell University, and the Chi Phi fraternity. Allegations include negligence, breach of contract, sexual assault and battery and violations of NewYork's HumanRights Law. RELATEDARTICLE Campusesreopen under Trump administration sexual assault rules critics say protect the accused more than survivors 12 MIN READ The lawsuit says Doe was 20 years old and had been drinking at her sorority house and a bar before she arrived at the Chi Phi house to visit a friend, who was one of the fraternity memberson the night of October 19, 2024. ADVERTISEMENT According to the suit, Doe had already consumed about 10 standard drinks within the past three hours when she arrived at the fraternity house. --- Page 7 --- and pressured her into snorting a substance they described as ketamine, and that she was then sexually assaulted while "incapable of consent." At roughly 1:42 a.m., one of the menallegedly sent a message to the fraternity's Snapchat group chat - titled "Chi Phi Actives" - stating there was "free p*ssy" upstairs. By doing this, the suit alleges, one of the accused "encouraged other XI CHAPTER members to join in on the gang rape of plaintiff." ADVERTISEMENT A photo of a portion of the chat is included in the filing. Multiple fraternity members then entered the room, where the complaint alleges they pressured Doe into taking more ketamine and subjected her to an hourslong assault that continued until approximately 5:45 a.m. Those exchanges are going to be a critical piece of evidence in this case, former federal prosecutor Berit Berger told CNN's Anderson Cooper Monday. "One has to think, if we were actually doing this investigation two years ago, what else would be available that may not be available now? What witnesses have graduated or moved away or lost recollection of this? What other sort of digital trail has now not been preserved?" --- Page 8 --- complaint says. Cornell suspended the Chi Phi chapter and the seven accused students, "who were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell," according to the lawsuit, which Cornell denied. RELATEDARTICLE Ohio State reaches $100 million settlement with nearly 300 sex abuse survivors 2 MIN READ The complaint faults Cornell for failing to properly discipline after the assault, "all the while sheltering them from speaking to law enforcement, and silencing victims." ADVERTISEMENT Cornell's "conduct was so outrageous, shocking, despicable, and contemptible that it exceeds the reasonable bounds of decency as measured by what the average member of the community would tolerate and demonstrates an utter disregard for the consequences that would follow," the lawsuit says. The complaint is seeking a jury trial to determine monetary damages. --- Page 9 --- from the allegations in the lawsuit. "Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual," Van Houten said. ADVERTISEMENT His office has not released the full police report. CNNhas asked Jane Doe's attorney for a response to Van Houten's statement and for a copy of her complete 2024 police statement. During a contentious interview Monday, CNN's Jake Tapper pressed Van Houten on why there wasn't a more expansive investigation from law enforcement or the DA's office after the initial report was madein 2024. "We can't change what happened in the past as much as the community is outraged," Van Houten said. "My job under the NewYork State Constitution is to apply the penal law of NewYork State. Weare constrained by that law. Whether you agree with it, whether you think someone's conduct is morally repugnant or vulgar or disgusting. I'm still constrained by the law." --- Page 10 --- Van Houten tells CNNhe is "constrained by the law." 0:55 The DAsaid the main difference between the initial Doe statement and the civil complaint is that the lawsuit "omits any reference that Jane Doe consented to the sexual contact." ADVERTISEMENT He acknowledged that the text message screen shots between the men"were completely vulgar and disgusting, but they had nothing to do with her consent." --- Page 11 --- complaint, that the fraternity brothers sent each other. Van Houten said that his team did not see the text messages evidence initially. "They were not part of our initial analysis, but I understand that Cornell had them, and they sent them to our team," he said. 'Disgusting and morally reprehensible' While the behavior of certain Chi Phi fraternity members was "without question disgusting and morally reprehensible," the district attorney said multiple prosecutors and criminal investigators determined the events as described in Doe's 2024 account did not constitute a crime. ADVERTISEMENT Nothing in Doe's original statement indicated she was drugged without consent or had sex against her will, Van Houten said. According to the accuser's statement, "each time Jane Doe asked to stop the sexual conduct, the sexual conduct stopped." "Thus, with no evidence of a 'lack of consent,' criminal charges simply could not be sustained," the district attorney wrote. --- Page 12 --- their own conduct because they were drugged without consent, Van Houten said. But he said excerpts from Jane Doe's 2024 statement indicated she took drugs voluntarily. So even if a person is heavily intoxicated, it would not count as "mental incapacitation" as long as a person consented to taking the substance. ADVERTISEMENT That's a "deficiency in NewYork law," Berger told CNN. "There is this gap in NewYork law where if somebody voluntarily took drugs, drank alcohol to the point that they were incapacitated, in many circumstances, that's not enough to prove that they didn't consent," Berger said. But Doe's attorney, Thomas P. Giuffra, told Tapper Mondayhe doesn't believe there is a "loophole" in NewYork law. "If there was, think about it logically: It would mean anybody could go trolling a bar looking for a womanwho's intoxicated, rape them, and get away with it," he said. --- Page 13 --- Doe's attorney tells CNNhe doesn't believe there is a "loophole" in NY law. 0:18 He believes the initial investigation was inadequate. ADVERTISEMENT "It is challenging for meto understand how a thorough criminal investigation could have been conducted when she never spoke with anyone other than the officer who took her original complaint," Giuffra told CNNin an earlier statement. --- Page 14 --- investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney s Office or any investigators trained in interviewing rape survivors," Giuffra said. "If the District Attorney's office is now considering prosecution, I believe that it is a step in the right direction, albeit a late one." Giuffra told Tapper that Doe's life has been ruined following the "nightmare" of two years ago. ADVERTISEMENT He stressed the alleged incident was not consensual. "I don't know how anybody who was grossly intoxicated and drugged can consent to anything," Giuffra said. If this was consensual and she wanted to participate, he said, "she wouldn't have gone to the police in the first place." He added that Doe wants accountability. Despite not being in college anymore, "she is barely hanging on." Giuffra revealed Doe was not allowed to leave school and heal after the alleged incident. --- Page 15 --- "Her parents, who had paid thousands and thousands of dollars for her to attend Cornell, tried to get their money back," Giuffra alleged. "Cornell said, 'No, you have to stay in school.' So she spent an entire semester in the campus where she saw these guys on a fairly regular basis. And that is just horrifying to me." CNNhas reached out to Cornell for comment on the allegation Doe was not allowed to withdraw without financial penalty. Cornell rebuts claims about lax punishment Cornell said in a statement Monday it "supports the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney (DA) to provide an opportunity for the victim's story ... to be heard by a criminal grand jury." ADVERTISEMENT --- Page 16 --- In a September 21 statement, Cornell declined to confirm the individual disciplinary outcomes, citing federal student privacy law. The school said violations of university policy "could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion," adding, "We will respond in detail through the legal process." RELATEDARTICLE Cornell suspends fraternity parties and social events after allegations of . sexual assault and drug-laced drinks 2 MIN READ Doe's attorney said Cornell expelled two of the seven accused students while the others received lesser punishment, including suspensions, workshops or written assignments. Cornell countered that claim Monday, saying there was a range of sanctions for the accused students, including suspensions and expulsions. But "none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement," the university said. ADVERTISEMENT --- Page 17 --- criminal proceeding, and a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, the school said. "Any suggestion that the University did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false," the statement read. "A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault." The school also said it barred the Xi chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity from its campus and launched a sexual assault task force shortly after the incident, adding it has implemented several of the group's recommendations. An attorney for one of the accused fraternity brothers denied any wrongdoing by his client. ADVERTISEMENT "Even the District Attorney's Office, led by a chief prosecutor with the duty to pursue justice and uphold the rule of law without bias or favor, filed no charges against (him) because what she alleged did not happen," attorney Jeremy Saland said in a statement to CNN. He said his client "never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way." --- Page 18 --- "The allegations now being madepublicly differ from what was reported and investigated during that process," attorney Andrew Miltenberg said in a statement to CNN. "We will address these issues through the appropriate legal process and will have no further comment at this time." CNNis working to determine if the other namedfraternity brothers have representation. Jane Doe speaks out In a statement to CNN, Doe said she went to Cornell "with great hope and promise for a good education." "What I experienced from those who raped mein the fraternity was the worst experience of mylife. I was brutalized and it injured mephysically but perhaps more importantly, emotionally," Doe said. "I want to recover from this trauma but it is extremely difficult. It affects every aspect of mylife. It will haunt meand be part of me the rest of my life." About 35%of undergraduate womenat Cornell University reported experiencing "nonconsensual sexual contact" during their time at the school, a 2025 survey conducted by the university found. That was an increase from 23%in the university's 2023 survey. The lawsuit - and along with the lack of criminal charges and accusations of inadequate discipline - has drawn a wave of outrage. USRep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from NewYork City, condemned what she described as a "culture of rape" at elite universities and institutions during a Sunday town hall in Ithaca, where Cornell is located. --- Page 19 --- lawsuit. That means it was normal to them, that means it was acceptable to them. This is a culture, this is norms, these are practices, and what we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces anymore." AOCcalls out Cornell University over alleged ... 2:38 Actor Florence Pugh also posted an impassioned response in a lengthy Instagram post Sunday, writing, "I'm no longer tired - I'm enraged by schools protecting boys, in fear of their futures being wrecked." "What about the life that those girls then have to endure, with the knowledge that his reputation is more precious than her truth?" she added. --- Page 20 --- Know that womeneverywhere are here to hold you and help you on your healing journey," she wrote. Meanwhile, Ithaca Mayor Robert G. Cantelmo on Monday called for a pause on Cornell University's Greek life and student group gatherings. In a statement on Instagram, the mayor said the moratorium would be in place "until such time that the University conducts an accounting of its protocols to prevent and prosecute crimes of sexual violence and publicly releases new standards and practices to keep our community safe." CNNreached out to the university for commenton the mayor's proposed moratorium, which requires approval from the town council. This story has been updated with additional information. Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800- 656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org. CNN's SammyLindeH and Avni Trivedi contributed to this report. Up next Cornell says ex-US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates will investigate school's response to Jane Doe's rape allegations 3 MIN READ Mood at Cornell University darkens amid mounting pressure on investigators of alleged sex assault 6 MIN READ