Cornell Student Seeks Gag Order in University Investigation

Attorneys for one of the men named in a civil lawsuit filed by a former Cornell University student are asking a New York judge to issue a gag order, arguing that extensive publicity surrounding allegations of a 2024 fraternity-house sexual assault could prejudice potential jurors.

Lawyers for Diego Sarabia asked Monday for “narrowly tailored restrictions” barring the attorneys and parties involved in the case from discussing the allegations outside court.

“Since this action began, Plaintiff’s counsel has repeatedly addressed the merits through widely disseminated media statements,” Sarabia’s motion stated. “These statements present disputed allegations and interpretations of evidence to the public before discovery and trial.”

The former undergraduate, identified in court as Jane Doe, reported to campus police in November 2024—about three weeks after the alleged incident—that a group of men had raped her at the Chi Phi fraternity house. She later filed a civil lawsuit against the men and Cornell University, alleging that she was drugged and raped.

No criminal charges have been filed. An investigation by the New York attorney general remains ongoing.

The allegations have drawn widespread attention at Cornell and fueled a broader national debate about how colleges respond to reported sexual assaults on campus.

James Knox, Sarabia’s attorney, said restrictions were needed to reduce “possible juror prejudice” and to prevent the release of sensitive information that could expose individuals to “threats, doxing, intimidation, and extrajudicial contact.” Knox also provided the court with a list of statements he characterized as prejudicial and attributed to Thomas Giuffra, Jane Doe’s attorney.

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“Plaintiff’s counsel has been trying his case in the media since filing the lawsuit,” the motion alleged. It said a complete account of Giuffra’s media appearances would be much longer than necessary to demonstrate the potential harm to a fair trial and to the parties involved.

In response, Giuffra accused the defense of “wholesale leaking of confidential documents,” giving interviews that questioned Doe’s account and describing her lawsuit as immoral. “These attempts to shift the narrative have not been successful,” he said. “The Defense is now attempting to silence me and Ms. Doe because we have been so successful in rebutting their ineffectual attempts to undermine her story. Truth always wins out.”

The lawsuit alleges that Sarabia grabbed and kissed Doe before “pouring lines of Ketamine all over her body and snorting them.” Sarabia has denied wrongdoing and, according to Cornell documents reviewed by ABC News, previously maintained that the interaction was consensual.

Last week, a Marine Corps member who shares the name of one of the defendants asked the court to restrict access to certain filings. He said he and his family had faced “continued and ongoing harassment, including death threats from members of the public.”

Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond agreed Friday to seal some of the filings and condemned what she called “misguided vigilantism.”

“This Court strongly condemns the reported acts of threats and doxing, which can only be characterized as brash, reckless, and ultimately dangerous internet vigilantism,” the judge wrote. “Our society has developed procedures and legal mechanisms over the course of centuries to ensure justice and due process are afforded to all. When certain actors decide to work outside those robust and developed frameworks, innocent people often get hurt. That is precisely what has happened here.”