Cornell fraternity member Matthew Ingalls told friends he planned to spend a gap year in Thailand “finding himself” after the Ivy League university expelled him amid allegations of sexual assault, a source told Our News Outlet.
Ingalls, named in a civil lawsuit by a woman identified as Jane Doe, allegedly lured her to the Chi Phi fraternity house and initiated a ketamine-fueled threesome before the alleged 2024 assault. After leaving Cornell following a Title IX investigation, he reportedly discussed his plans with friends in Dubai.
Ingalls’s family lives in Dubai’s affluent Jumeirah district, although Our News Outlet understands they have temporarily relocated.
His father is a prominent academic who has taught courses on Sharia law and Islam at elite universities in the Middle East, Our News Outlet can exclusively reveal.
Yale-educated Matthew B. Ingalls, 48, has taught Shariah Law, Islam in America and Islamic Fundamentalism at Yale, the University of Puget Sound in Washington and the American University in Cairo, Egypt, according to an 11-page academic résumé.
In 2014, he also delivered a lecture to female inmates at the Washington Corrections Center for Women.
His current role is listed as associate professor and chair of the Department of International and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University in Dubai. However, his photograph and contact information disappeared from the university’s website this week.
The changes came days after Our News Outlet reported that his son, born Umar Matthew Ingalls, was among seven Cornell students accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a sophomore at a fraternity party in October 2024. He has denied the allegations.
Matthew Ingalls, one of the Cornell fraternity members expelled from the Ivy League university amid explosive sexual assault allegations, played rugby and joined Chi Phi, one of America’s oldest fraternities, after enrolling at the school
The student’s father, Matthew B. Ingalls, 48, is a prominent academic who has taught Shariah Law and Islam at Yale, the University of Puget Sound in Washington and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. He is pictured right with his wife, Yasmine Khattab
Ingalls appeared to be following his Ivy League-educated father’s path when he won a place at Cornell the previous year.
However, he and fellow student Jonathan Newell, 21, were expelled after a Title IX investigation that involved more than 50 interviews.
The allegations drew widespread public attention last month when the woman revived her claims in a detailed civil lawsuit filed anonymously under the name Jane Doe.
She alleges that Ingalls invited her to the party, where she was given ketamine, marijuana and alcohol before being sexually assaulted by as many as seven Chi Phi members.
The woman, who was 20 at the time, claims Newell encouraged others to participate by posting a message in the fraternity’s Snapchat group advertising “free p***y.”
A former neighbor told Our News Outlet this week that he believed Ingalls had returned to the Middle East to join his father. The elder Ingalls did not respond to multiple calls and emails, while Our News Outlet has also repeatedly sought comment from Ingalls.
His mother, Yasmine Khattab, works as an Arabic and English tutor and a wellness coach.
Public property records indicate that Ingalls spent his early childhood in Connecticut and Washington before moving with his family to the United Arab Emirates around 2016.
A now-deleted LinkedIn profile carrying Ingalls’s name and photograph previously identified him as an employee of Data Annotation, an artificial intelligence company. The firm previously told TMZ that it blocked Ingalls from its platform in May 2024
Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter was shut down in 2024 after the allegations and remains barred from campus
Yearbook photographs unearthed by Our News Outlet show Ingalls attended an elite private school in Emirates Hills, the wealthy Dubai enclave often dubbed the ‘Beverly Hills of Dubai.’
The school, which caters to some of Dubai’s wealthiest families, regularly sends graduates to leading universities around the world, including the Ivy League.
By 2023, Ingalls had secured multiple college offers, including from Cornell, Tufts and the University of Alabama.
He opted to study math and economics at Cornell, in Ithaca, New York, and joined Chi Phi, one of America’s oldest fraternities, and played on the rugby team.
Ingalls’ promising future would soon start to unravel, however.
In her 101-page lawsuit, Doe alleges Ingalls, whom she considered a friend, lured her to the frat house when she was already heavily intoxicated after a night of drinking on October 19, 2024.
Ingalls allegedly propositioned Doe, then 20, for a threesome with Newell when she said she was too drunk to consent.
She claims they pressured her to snort ketamine and plied her with marijuana and high-proof rum.
Ingalls then allegedly ‘forced’ oral sex on Doe while Newell raped her and repeatedly slapped her buttocks hard enough to leave bruising, the lawsuit claims.
Ingalls allegedly left the room before a third frat member, Gillio Lopes, entered and began kissing Doe. He and Newell then allegedly sexually assaulted her.
At around 1.42am, Newell allegedly sent a message to the fraternity’s Snapchat group saying there was ‘free p***y’ upstairs.
Ingalls returned with several other fraternity members, including Winston Lee, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar.
The lawsuit claims all seven men snorted ketamine off Doe’s naked body before five eventually left.
Ingalls and Lee allegedly coerced Doe into taking more ketamine, leaving her ‘completely incapacitated,’ before they allegedly raped her.
The alleged attack ended at 5.45am when Doe lost consciousness, the filing states.
In a sworn statement, Doe said the ordeal left her so traumatized she was forced to quit Cornell.
The incident allegedly took place in 2024, but the Tompkins County district attorney declined to prosecute. (Pictured: The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell)
Footage obtained by ABC News allegedly shows the frat-house bedroom where Jane Doe claims she was assaulted by seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers
The footage shows trash littered around the room where Doe alleges she was assaulted. The clip also shows a metal bedframe without a mattress and a platform bed inside the bedroom
She reported the allegations to Cornell University Police three weeks later on November 8, telling investigators: ‘I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped,’ according to a reported transcript.
A Cornell Title IX investigation resulted in disciplinary sanctions including expulsions and suspensions.
Ingalls and Newell were expelled after Cornell found them responsible for sexually assaulting Doe, according to discipline summaries reviewed by the New York Times.
Chi Phi was permanently banned from campus.
During Cornell’s Title IX investigation, Ingalls claimed that he was the one assaulted by Jane Doe.
‘After all, you received information that I was sodomized by her while I was incapacitated back in November, and you never once thought to alert me of my rights under these procedures as a survivor of this assault?’ Ingalls wrote in an email reviewed by ABC News.
The report also included apparently amicable messages Doe sent Newell and Ingalls days after the alleged attack.
Newell apologized ‘for how things went down,’ while Doe allegedly told him that ‘none of the sexual stuff was illegal’ and that she ‘really liked’ being with him.
In a separate exchange with Ingalls, Doe allegedly said her ‘reputation is destroyed’ but that people needed to ‘grow up’ because ‘sexuality and sex… is changing.’
She ended the message: ‘I luv you King.’
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten’s office declined to bring criminal charges after investigating the case in 2024.
The account Doe gave investigators at the time is said to have differed substantially from the allegations in her civil suit filed nearly two years later.
The original statement did not allege she was drugged against her will, incapacitated or forced into sex acts, Van Houten has said.
Governor Kathy Hochul appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James last week as a special prosecutor to conduct a fresh criminal investigation.
All seven defendants have denied any wrongdoing. None have faced criminal charges.
