New York: A reopened criminal investigation into allegations of gang rape at Cornell University will be led by a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who oversaw high-profile sex crimes cases involving music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs and fashion executive Peter Nygard, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday.
Jacqueline Kelly, a Cornell alumna and partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, will serve as outside counsel for James' investigation. The probe follows allegations made by a former student in a lawsuit filed in September that several men raped her at a fraternity party in October 2024.
Kelly and a team of lawyers and investigators from her firm and the attorney general's office will gather evidence, interview witnesses, review investigative records and reports, and analyse the facts and applicable law, James said.
They will report to James, who was appointed special prosecutor overseeing the Cornell investigation by Governor Kathy Hochul last month. James, a Democrat, made the announcement a day after winning election to a third term.
Separately, two men named as defendants in the former student's lawsuit are seeking to have James removed from the investigation. They argue that she is biased because of a social media post she made before her appointment expressing support for the accuser. A judge has yet to rule on the request.
“Jacqueline Kelly is a seasoned prosecutor who has overseen numerous cases from investigation through trial,” James said in a statement. “With her criminal legal expertise, commitment to public service, and judicial experience, I am confident that she will lead a fair and comprehensive investigation.”
Kelly, a Columbia Law School graduate, worked in the Manhattan US Attorney's Office for nearly a decade and led the civil rights unit in its criminal division. She oversaw investigations and prosecutions involving civil rights offences, voting rights violations, sex crimes and hate crimes.
She left the office last year to join Boies Schiller Flexner and will remain at the firm while conducting the Cornell investigation.
“All New Yorkers deserve a fair and thorough inquiry into the facts of this case,” Kelly said. “I look forward to lending my years of experience as a federal prosecutor to the Office of the Attorney General as we examine all available evidence.”
How the investigation was reopened
Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor on 1 October, saying she had lost faith in the local prosecutor, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who had declined to bring charges in 2024.
Van Houten had said he would restart the investigation following the former student's lawsuit. However, a lawyer for the accuser said the district attorney was preparing to take the matter to a grand jury within two weeks.
James has said her investigation will take months.
The former Cornell student, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, alleged in her lawsuit that some of the men pressured her into using ketamine and marijuana. She also said she consumed alcohol that left her too intoxicated to consent. A few weeks later, she reported the incident to campus police and the university's Title IX office.
The case has drawn scrutiny at the Ivy League institution, raising questions about how universities, police departments and local prosecutors respond to sexual assaults on campus.
Last month, Cornell hired former US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review how the university investigates sexual assault and sexual harassment, its disciplinary procedures, the campus police response and other related matters.
Kelly's prosecution record
As a federal prosecutor, Kelly supervised the prosecutions of former Manhattan neurologist Ricardo Cruciani, who died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial on federal charges after being convicted in state court of molesting patients. She also oversaw the case against Bronx music teacher Jesus Concepcion, who was sentenced in 2024 to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing five students.
Kelly also prosecuted organised crime, taking on a dozen members of the Lucchese crime family.
At Boies Schiller Flexner, she focuses on regulatory and criminal investigations and represents victims of sexual assault and other crimes. The firm, co-founded by lawyer David Boies, is known for representing victims of the late Jeffrey Epstein, as well as corporate clients including Amazon and the now-defunct health technology company Theranos.
James, whose office primarily handles civil litigation and consumer protection matters, has previously appointed outside lawyers to assist with investigations.
In 2021, she appointed former Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim and employment lawyer Anne Clark to conduct a non-criminal investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The investigation produced a report that led to Cuomo's resignation. He denied its findings.
