A Marine who shares a name with a Chi Phi defendant says a wrong address in the Cornell lawsuit brought death threats to his family.

Wednesday was a request. Friday was the order. Spectrum News reported Perry-Bond sealed filings because they list addresses, including one that wrongly identified where a former Marine who is not involved in the case lives, and that his family was flooded with threats. CNY Central published the order's language condemning what the court called dangerous internet vigilantism. A sealing order limits the public docket. It does not decide the assault allegations, and it does not file a criminal charge.

Fox News reported Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, that Elliot Hallak, a lawyer for an active-duty U.S. Marine, wrote to New York Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond asking that a filing listing his client's address be stricken from the record "to alleviate the fallout" for the Marine and his family. The civil lawsuit filed by the former Cornell student identified as Jane Doe names seven former Chi Phi members, and one of them shares the Marine's name, Fox News reported. Doe's lawyers acknowledged the mistake and filed an amended document using the correct person's address, but Hallak wrote that the incorrect filing remained publicly available.

Spectrum News reported that on Friday, Oct. 9, Perry-Bond ordered the complaint and other files sealed because they list addresses. The station reported one filing wrongly listed where a former Marine who is not involved lives, that his family was flooded with threats because he shares a name with a defendant, and that the judge called it dangerous vigilantism. CNY Central reported the order says the court "strongly condemns the reported acts of threats and doxing, which can only be characterized as brash, reckless, and ultimately dangerous internet vigilantism," and that "vigilantes" used an erroneous address "to inundate a former marine and his family with threats, simply because of a name shared with a defendant in this case." CNY Central reported the court, on its own, directed the county clerk to seal NYSCEF documents 1, 6, 7, and 22 because they contain personal identifying information "which have been used by certain observers to maliciously threaten and intimidate." Spectrum News and CNY Central reported Doe's lawyers must refile redacted versions without addresses. Spectrum News reported Doe's lawyer said a swatting call was made to her house, that police responded and drew weapons on her father, her brother, and a friend, and that nobody was hurt. A sealing order takes addresses off the public docket. It is not a dismissal, and it is not a criminal charge. The Marine is not named here.

"The continued inclusion...of an incorrect address...is causing great hardship to the family of an active United States Servicemember who has absolutely no connection or involvement to this matter," Hallak wrote, according to Fox News. He wrote that his client "has never been to Cornell University" and was stationed in North Carolina at the time of the alleged October 2024 assault, and that after the filings listed his address, his family was harassed, received death threats, and had their phone numbers published online. Fox News reported that at least one other person who shares a name with one of the defendants has also reported being harassed by strangers. CBS News reported Tuesday that a lawyer for former Chi Phi members who graduated in 2022 and 2023 asked Cornell to confirm they were not part of the group chat at the center of the lawsuit, after online sleuths wrongly tied them to the case.

Fox News reported that Doe told university police on Nov. 8, 2024, that she was attacked between 11 p.m. on Oct. 19 and 5:45 a.m. on Oct. 20 at the Chi Phi house, and that she alleges she was pressured into snorting ketamine. The school suspended the fraternity and disciplined some of the accused students, but no criminal charges were filed, Fox News reported. Besides the seven former members, the suit names the fraternity and affiliated entities, Cornell University, Doe's sorority, and a local bar where she alleges she was served drinks underage. Fox News reported that bar, Moonies Bar and Nightclub, has asked to move the case out of New York City to Tompkins County. The outlet also reported protests and vandalism at Day Hall on campus on Monday, Oct. 5. Attorney General Letitia James is leading the criminal investigation as special prosecutor.

No one has been charged with a crime, and the Marine is not a party to the case at all. The seven men named in the suit have not been found liable for anything. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. A civil complaint is an accusation that still has to be proven. From the defense side, the lesson is simple: when names are all the public has, the wrong person pays first.