- The claim that male students who were accused of raping a female student at Cornell University were fired from their jobs or expelled from Cornell is still under investigation.
- Snopes readers asked us to determine what happened to each of the seven accused, including whether the university penalized them or their employers fired them.
- A spokesperson for Cornell said via email that the university issued suspensions for some students and expelled others but did not specify which students received which penalties. Cornell did not respond to our specific questions about each student.
- Using the university database, social media posts, a lawyer’s statements and college news reporting, Snopes was able to determine that at least one of the accused was still a student on campus. Three others were alumni at the time of the September 2026 lawsuit, while the remainder have an undetermined status at the university.
- Snopes has also reached out to most of the accused students using emails from the college database. We will update this report if we get more information.
In September 2026, a lawsuit brought against Cornell University and seven of its male students alleged the men drugged and raped a 20-year-old female student in October 2024. The story spread online along with claims that the accused students faced little or no consequences, though some allegedly lost their jobs or were expelled.
As Snopes previously reported, the lawsuit named seven male students as defendants: Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar. According to the lawsuit — filed on behalf of the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, on Sept. 14 — the drugging and multiple assaults occurred the night of Oct. 19, 2024, into the early hours of Oct. 20 at the Xi chapter of the Chi Phi fraternity.
According to Doe’s lawsuit, Cornell temporarily suspended the accused students on Nov. 8, 2024, (Page 29) but they were given the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by writing an essay to the university. Cornell has denied that the students only had to write essays as a disciplinary measure.
Posts on X, Facebook and Instagram claimed two of the accused students, Sarabia and Ingalls, lost their jobs at Wells Fargo and Data Annotation Tech, respectively. Jane Doe’s attorney also reportedly claimed two of the students were expelled from the university, without naming them.
Snopes emailed a spokesperson for Cornell University to determine the enrollment status of each of the accused students. The university declined to respond to specific questions about the accused, directing us to its official statement. The statement says that students were expelled and/or suspended but would not identify which students:
Temporary suspensions and other restrictive measures were issued when the conduct was reported. Chi Phi, Xi Chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus. Following the university’s Title IX investigation, sanctions including expulsions and suspensions were issued by a hearing panel comprising trained faculty and staff. Federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students, and the university is therefore unable to make a public statement regarding any other disciplinary response.
Below we break down everything we know about the education and employment status of each of the seven accused students. We will update this story as we learn more.
Diego Sarabia
Student newspaper The Cornell Daily Sun and
Gossip outlet TMZ reported, citing anonymous sources, that Sarabia is no longer employed at a Wells Fargo bank branch in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was not possible to independently verify this ourselves. According to the report, Sarabia had worked at the branch since 2022. Wells Fargo has not publicly commented on the story as of this writing.
Snopes has contacted several Wells Fargo representatives to learn more about Sarabia’s role, employment status and the circumstances around his alleged termination. The company has not responded to our queries.
Snopes has also reached out to Sarabia through an email address in the student directory.
Matthew Ingalls
On Sept. 30, Data Annotation Tech responded to the claim that it had employed one of the accused. The company, which hires independent contractors to train artificial intelligence models, said on Instagram (archived) that one of the accused was blocked from its platform in May 2024, long before the lawsuit.
According to its Instagram post, which does not name Ingalls, the claim that the company employed one of the accused is “incorrect.” It continues, “He has had no access to our platform or our company at any point since then.”
We contacted Data Annotation Tech to learn more about whether Ingalls, specifically, had ever been a contractor or employee there.
The Daily Sun reported that Ingalls was a member of the class of 2027.
Snopes has reached out to Ingalls through an email address in the student directory.
Gillio Lopes
The Daily Sun reported that Lopes was a member of the class of 2027 and was still listed in the directory as a student in the College of Arts and Sciences. Snopes was unable to confirm the directory listing.
Footage shared online purported to show a woman confronting Lopes on Cornell’s campus in late September 2026. Lopes’ lawyer confirmed the veracity of the footage to TMZ, saying:
What has emerged today only reinforces how dangerous it is to rush to judgment. The contemporaneous texts and other evidence now being reported show a far more complicated and evolving factual picture than the one initially presented to the public.
[…]
Due process exists for precisely this reason. Publicity is not evidence. Repetition is not proof. An accusation cannot be allowed to become its own proof. He is entitled to have the evidence tested through the legal process—not by headlines, social media, or people confronting him in public or threatening his family.
Snopes has reached out to Lopes’ lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, to learn more.
Winston Lee
The Daily Sun reported that Lee was a member of the class of 2027 and was still listed in the directory as a student in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Some social media users claimed (archived) Lee was still on campus and had changed his name to Jay Lee. As of this writing, Snopes was unable to independently verify this claim.
Snopes was unable to determine Lee’s status via the student directory or to find contact information for him.
Scott Kretzschmar
The Daily Sun reported that Kretzschmar is an alumnus from the class of 2026. When Snopes first looked at the student directory, it listed him as a student, but his college affiliation was “not applicable.” When Snopes returned to the directory on Oct. 2, his name had been removed.
Snopes has reached out to Kretzschmar through an email address in the student directory.
Johnathan Newell
The Daily Sun reported that Newell was a member of the class of 2027. When Snopes first looked at the student directory, it listed a “Jonathan Newell” (with a different spelling) as a student, but his college affiliation was “not applicable.” When Snopes went back to the directory on Oct. 2, there was no record of a Johnathan or Jonathan Newell.
Snopes has reached out to Newell through an email address in the student directory.
Scott Norris
The Daily Sun reported that Norris is an alumnus from the class of 2026. Cornell’s online database initially listed him as a student but his college affiliation as “not applicable.” When Snopes returned to the directory on Oct. 2, his name had been removed.
Snopes has reached out to Norris through an email address in the student directory.
For further reading, Snopes has reported on what we know about several claims surrounding the “Cornell 7” lawsuit, including a rumor that the Ivy League had dropped Cornell.