A Cornell University graduate has been suspended from his job after online investigators wrongly linked him to an alleged gang rape case, despite the fact that he had left the university months before the incident, his attorney said.
The alumnus, identified only as B, was incorrectly listed as a participant in a controversial Snapchat group chat cited in a lawsuit accusing seven Chi Phi fraternity members of sexually assaulting a woman in October 2024, according to The New Yorker. The seven men have denied the allegations.
The civil complaint, filed last month by a woman using the pseudonym Jane Doe, contained an image of the alleged “Chi Phi Actives” chat. In the messages, fraternity members reportedly promoted a gathering by referring to “free p***y” upstairs, a reference to Doe.
The chat was said to include 57 people. After the lawsuit drew widespread attention, social media users began trying to identify everyone who may have seen or received the offensive messages.
A TikTok creator then located an outdated Chi Phi membership roster and posted a video naming and showing photographs of dozens of men, including B, as alleged fraternity brothers, the magazine reported.
The video attracted more than 2 million views before the roster was also posted on CornellSeven.com, a website established by self-described activist Aaron Faulk.
B said anonymous messages tying him to Doe’s lawsuit began arriving at his workplace within 24 hours. His employer subsequently placed him on paid leave.
Although the company knew he had graduated before the alleged assault took place, B said officials still asked him to demonstrate that he had never belonged to the Snapchat group.
A Cornell University graduate and Chi Phi alumnus was suspended from his job after online users wrongly connected him to the alleged October 2024 gang rape case involving Jane Doe
Self-described activist Aaron Faulk posted a roster on CornellSeven.com identifying alleged members of the controversial “Chi Phi Actives” chat. At least 10 men named on the site were wrongly associated with the group
B says Faulk included him among 57 men on a list the activist had previously described as a “verified” roster of Chi Phi members.
According to B, Faulk published identifying details that included his name, photograph, employer, home address, hometown and Cornell field of study.
B later retained defamation lawyer Adam Ford, who sent Faulk a cease-and-desist letter.
Faulk, whose personal social media accounts are private, has since taken B’s name off the roster.
B nevertheless believes the consequences may continue long after the correction. He told the magazine that people could have viewed the list briefly, absorbed his name and formed an opinion before learning that the information was inaccurate.
He questioned how many people now associate him with conduct he says he had no connection to.
B has shut down his social media accounts and said members of his family are still being harassed online. He has also indefinitely postponed applications to law school because of the fallout.
Another Chi Phi alumnus, identified as T, said he too was wrongly placed on the list and has been “inundated” with abusive messages.
The graduate, identified as B, was wrongly described as a member of the controversial Snapchat chat highlighted in Doe’s civil lawsuit
T graduated in 2022 and maintains very little of an online presence. He works for his family’s business and said protecting his reputation is important, yet online users have targeted his relatives based on what he considers extremely tenuous claims.
He has been meeting with a therapist to help deal with the fallout from the false accusation.
Faulk’s roster, which no longer features the term ‘verified,’ currently names 42 men as being members of the Snapchat group. Our News Outlet is not able to independently verify any names included on CornellSeven.com.
It also refers to the seven men accused by Doe of assault as ‘rapists,’ even though no criminal charges have been filed against them.
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Ford has since contacted Faulk about 10 other Cornell graduates who were featured in his roster, but were never in the controversial group chat. The activist has since removed the men from the list.
Faulk published an op-ed in response to both the list and the overall coverage of the case on his website, saying that he wasn’t even the original proprietor of the list.
‘Based on the activity I tracked, posts circulating that information had attracted nearly one million combined shares and interactions before my account developed any meaningful following,’ he said.
‘The list was already everywhere. Large accounts were circulating it, including personalities with audiences numbering in the millions. Its distribution was not initiated by me, its original audience was not created by me, and I did not publish the original circulating list on Threads or X.’
Matthew Ingalls was one of the two Cornell frat brothers expelled from the Ivy League school over explosive sexual assault allegations first raised in 2024; he denied wrongdoing
Johnathan Newell, who grew up in South Florida, was also expelled following Cornell’s internal Title IX investigation into the claims
‘I will correct information when warranted. I will not apologize for scrutinizing publicly available fraternity records or demanding accountability from powerful institutions,’ he added.
In a civil lawsuit filed last month, Doe claims she was sexually assaulted by Chi Phi brothers Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar on October 19, 2024.
They have all denied any wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed.
Doe claimed that the seven men engaged in sexual acts with her while she was ‘completely incapacitated’ and without her consent. She says the ordeal continued until she lost consciousness.
She said the men manipulated her into ingesting ketamine and alcohol, and that other men entered the room while she was incapacitated, the lawsuit said.
She also alleged that Snapchat messages describing her as sexually available to anyone at the house circulated among fraternity members without her knowledge.
Doe, then a 20-year-old sophomore, reported the alleged assault to Cornell police in November 2024, three weeks after she said it occurred.
Campus police investigated and sent a summary of their findings to the district attorney’s office, which relied on the information in deciding not to bring criminal charges. Separately, Cornell conducted a Title IX investigation.
Doe’s lawsuit sparked national outrage over the handling of the case. Her supporters are seen gathering in Ithaca, New York for a protest on October 13, 2026
The Chi Phi chapter was shut down, and the university has said it expelled some students and suspended others.
Cornell this week suspended all parties and social events at fraternity houses through the end of the 2026-27 academic year and implemented a new ‘zero tolerance’ policy that would immediately suspend chapters for violations.
Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, who announced the new measures Tuesday, also committed to working with New York State Police to allow its criminal investigators, who are independent of Cornell, to investigate sexual assault allegations.
Doe has since received hundreds of harassing phone calls, texts and direct messages on social media in which her life has been threatened, her lawyer Thomas Giuffra told the New Yorker.
Her family has also been victim of multiple swatting calls in recent weeks. Swatting is when a nefarious 911 call is made with details of a fake crime that is intended to send armed cops to the home of an innocent person.
Our News Outlet has approached B’s attorney, Adam Ford, for comment.
We also messaged Faulk on Instagram. A direct method of contact was not listed on his website.
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