Attorney for Cornell Fraternity Member Criticizes Florence Pugh Over Rape Allegations

A legal representative for one of seven Cornell fraternity members named in a lawsuit over allegations of drugging and raping a female student has stepped forward to criticize actress Florence Pugh. The attorney, speaking on behalf of Scott Kretzschmar who denies all charges, called her comments inflammatory rhetoric. This follows a suit filed in New York earlier this month where the accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, stated she was forced down alcohol and ketamine before being sexually assaulted repeatedly for hours at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024.

The 101-page complaint claims one attacker sent a Snapchat message to other members announcing free p***y upstairs. Yet new text messages that have just come to light suggest a different picture emerged two days later. In these texts, Doe told an accused man her memory was super clouded and insisted none of the sexual stuff was illegal at the time. Her lawyer explained she was traumatized and in denial when it happened. These fresh details add urgency to a story that has already sparked outrage across Cornell and local law enforcement circles.

Three of the seven men have publicly denied the claims while one lost his job entirely. High-profile voices jumped into the fray over the weekend, including Pugh who posted on Instagram feeling uneasy sick and anxious after reading about the case. She wrote we are not hard enough on those that want to damage human lives and saluted students fighting for Doe by making life unbearably impossible for the accused boys.

Jeremy Saland pushed back against letting public anger turn into a presumption of guilt. He warned Pugh she should not add fuel to the fire with wrongful assumptions unless she believes facts do not matter or that innocence can be tossed aside. Just like any Mr Smith or Ms Jones, he said people can opine all they want but must respect the rule of law. Saland even invoked the Duke lacrosse scandal from 2006 where three players were falsely accused before being declared innocent when the case collapsed. The new text messages showing Doe's confused state at the time could shift how this entire saga is viewed by everyone watching.

Crystal Mangum admitted she made up the accusations against Florence Pugh. Her accuser later confessed to fabricating the claims entirely. If the Duke Lacrosse tragedy taught us anything, we must drop our pitchforks and wait for facts before judging anyone. Saland said this clearly.

Pugh's representatives have been reached out to for comment on the situation. They haven't issued a statement yet.

Tomkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the criminal probe Monday. This happened nearly two years after prosecutors first said they would not bring charges. Public pressure was mounting fast at that moment. He announced his office is looking into new evidence that simply wasn't available back in 2024. Investigators will decide if these fresh details change their view of the case.

A senior sex-crimes prosecutor has been assigned to handle this file now. They will present all findings to a grand jury soon enough. Van Houten clarified his office did not launch an independent investigation into the claims in 2024. Instead, they were asked by Cornell University Police just to review Doe's statement. They needed to determine if what she described actually amounted to a crime under New York law.

Prosecutors were never shown the Snapchat exchange at the center of Doe's lawsuit. This included that 'free p***y' message Van Houten mentioned publicly. A report by CBS New York uncovered additional messages sent in that same thread on the night of the alleged attack. One fraternity brother wrote, 'Shop still open?' later, seemingly referencing an earlier message suggesting a woman was available for sex. Another person replied 'Yea.'

Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh shared an Instagram post over the weekend addressing Jane Doe's allegations directly. She said the claims left her feeling uneasy and sick and anxious too. Part of Pugh's statement can be seen above on social media feeds. She said she was enraged by institutions she believes protect accused men at the expense of women everywhere.

Doe's attorney Thomas Giuffra has repeatedly questioned how thorough Cornell PD's investigation really was. He told the Daily Mail there was little meaningful follow-up after his client first reported the allegations to police. But Van Houten also highlighted a significant complication here. Doe's initial account to police in 2024 differs sharply from the allegations made in her current lawsuit.

In a statement Monday, the DA quoted extensively from the six-page sworn account Doe gave Cornell University Police in November 2024. This was several weeks after the alleged incident occurred originally. She described herself as being a '5 out of 10' on a scale of intoxication when she arrived at Chi Phi. She said she agreed to take part in an initial threesome because of her attraction to one of the men and her drunken curiousness.

Doe also described taking ketamine voluntarily during parts of that long night. She replied 'sure' when one man asked whether the group could take drugs off her body, according to her statement. Her 2024 account said while that was happening, one of the seven accused plus another man entered the room. One person said words to the effect of, 'Ok, we're shutting down whatever the f**k this is.' She said she was feeling dizzy from the ketamine and a pre-existing medical condition. One of the men encouraged her to remain seated for as long as she needed it.

Her original account did include unwanted conduct though. Doe said she repeatedly swatted away one man's hand when he reached toward her crotch. She rejected another proposed sexual encounter outright. She pulled away when another fraternity member tried to kiss her too. But prosecutors said the statement did not allege she had been drugged without her consent. It didn't say she was rendered unconscious or unable to communicate either. Nor did it claim she was forced into the sexual activity they reviewed back then.

Van Houten stated that the initial ruling did not prove consent was missing, a key element needed for criminal charges. New text messages found by CBS change the picture entirely. These chats allegedly happened two days after the attack between Doe and one of the accused men. In them, the man apologized for how things went down. He claimed he and another guy were too drunk to stop events before they got way out of hand. Doe replied that her memory was super clouded. She wrote that none of the sexual stuff was illegal. Later she suggested they smoke together again without the extra five billion men and ketamine. Giuffra told the outlet that Doe did exchange messages with the defendant but could not verify the specific screenshots. He said she was traumatized and in denial at the time, trying to piece together what happened. Pugh's post got flagged for sensitive content by Instagram and became restricted from view. Pugh accused the platform of censorship. An attorney for one of the Cornell students accused by Doe invoked the Duke lacrosse scandal of 2006. That case involved Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, who were falsely accused of rape. Crystal Mangum, at the center of that scandal, later admitted to fabricating the claims. Doe's civil lawsuit presented a markedly different account than what appeared in the text messages or the police report cited by Van Houten. She alleged she was already too intoxicated to consent when arriving at Chi Phi. She said she was pressured into taking ketamine and repeatedly sexually assaulted as she became increasingly incapacitated before losing consciousness around 5:45 am. Van Houten noted that neither Doe nor her attorneys contacted his office in nearly two years after the original decision. They never asked for the case to be reconsidered or claimed her statement was inaccurate until he reached out after reading the lawsuit. Still, he acknowledged victims can take years to process sexual trauma and new evidence warrants another look. Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider cases when provided with additional evidence, Van Houten said. Getting to the truth is the goal in this case. Kretzschmar and two other defendants, Scott Norris and Gillio Lopes, have now publicly denied participating in the alleged sexual assaults or drug use described. Saland said Kretzschmar acknowledges making an immature comment in the Snapchat chain cited by Doe and briefly entering the room where she was. He denies touching her, engaging in sexual activity or taking ketamine. Saland said Kretzschmar was in the room for only a few minutes, did not see Doe in distress or undressed and took a hair-follicle test showing his client had not consumed ketamine. He accused Doe and her attorneys of unfairly grouping Kretzschmar with more serious allegations against other defendants. The complaint broadly accused all seven men of rape, while the specific allegation against his client was that he participated in taking ketamine from Doe's body. Even if the plaintiff was a victim by others, two wrongs do not make a right, Saland said. She does not have the right to victimize Scott. He said Kretzschmar welcomes the reopened investigation and is confident it will clear him. Norris has also denied participating in sexual activity or drug use that night while acknowledging he sent a Snapchat message included in the lawsuit and briefly entered the room. I was not found responsible by Cornell for any of the accusations involving sexual activity and drug use for which others received serious consequences, Norris said through an attorney. Cornell has backed the DA's decision to revisit the case.

Cornell University officially banned the Chi Phi fraternity's Xi chapter back in 2024, ending its presence on campus after years of scrutiny. The school stands firmly behind the District Attorney's recent decision to reopen a criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations involving seven students and their connections to the group. Cornell says its own internal Title IX process gave every accused student, including Doe, a chance to present evidence before a panel of faculty and staff.

One defendant, Gillio Lopes, flatly rejected the accusations leveled against him. "We represent Mr Lopes. He unequivocally denies the allegations against him," attorney Andrew Miltenberg stated in a formal reply. Lopes also pushed back hard on Doe's specific claims about his behavior at the scene of the alleged misconduct. "I thoughtlessly engaged in Snapchat and briefly stopped in the room where misconduct happened but not when it happened."

Diego Sarabia, another man named in the complaint for allegedly pressuring Doe to take ketamine alongside marijuana and alcohol, has kept quiet on the matter publicly. Reports from TMZ indicate he lost his job at a Wells Fargo branch in Charlotte once the DA's probe restarted. Cornell noted that this move by authorities confirms the gravity of the situation rather than dismissing it.

The lawsuit filed by Doe went further, claiming the university let all seven accused students mitigate their conduct simply by submitting essays. The institution immediately pushed back on such suggestions. "Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false," a spokesperson said, pointing to suspensions and expulsions as proof of serious sanctions.

Cornell emphasized that its months-long internal review allowed Doe and everyone accused to testify before investigators. Now, with the DA reopening the case, the focus shifts to how government directives impact the public and what rules govern student conduct. The university insists it acted correctly while supporting law enforcement in pursuing justice for survivors.