Cornell's Jane Doe has dropped a former Chi Phi leader from her lawsuit after he turned out not to be the chapter president at the time.

This is a small filing in a very big case, but it matters for two reasons. It shows how quickly a name can get attached to a scandal this public, and it is the first defendant to walk out of the lawsuit entirely. The seven fraternity members Jane Doe accuses all deny wrongdoing, no criminal charges have been filed, and the real test of her claims is still ahead. Petito's exit also leaves an open question the lawsuit will have to answer: who actually was in charge of the house that night.

A former leader of Cornell University's Chi Phi fraternity has been dropped from the civil lawsuit filed by the woman known as Jane Doe, who says she was drugged and sexually assaulted by fraternity members at the Chi Phi house in October 2024, the Daily Mail, TMZ, ABC News and Newsday reported. Orazio Petito was removed from the complaint through a notice of discontinuance filed Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, according to the Daily Mail. TMZ reported that all parties agreed to drop him from the case and that, under the new filing, he cannot be added back in.

Petito was never one of the fraternity members accused of assaulting Jane Doe, the outlets reported. TMZ reported he was named because the lawsuit claimed he was responsible for supervising the chapter and keeping its house and members safe. According to the Daily Mail, Jane Doe had identified him as the chapter's president, and his lawyer, Eric Bernstein, said the claims against him were dismissed because he was not serving as president of Chi Phi's Xi Chapter at the time of the alleged assault. "We're pleased with the dismissal of the case against my client, and justice was served," Bernstein told Newsday, as quoted by the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail reported that it remains unclear who the chapter's actual president was at the time.

The lawsuit, filed last month in New York, accuses seven current and former students, Matthew Ingalls, Jonathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, of sexually assaulting or exploiting Jane Doe on Oct. 19, 2024, the Daily Mail reported. All of them have denied her allegations, saying either that what happened was consensual or that they were not involved, according to the Daily Mail. The suit also names Cornell, several Greek organizations and a local bar, alleging negligence and breach of contract, iHeartRadio reported, citing The Cornell Daily Sun. The bar, Moonies Bar & Nightclub, has denied serving her alcohol while she was underage, according to that report.

Jane Doe, then a 20-year-old sophomore, reported the alleged assault to Cornell police in November 2024, the Daily Mail reported. Campus police sent a summary of their findings to the district attorney's office, which decided not to bring criminal charges, and Cornell separately ran a Title IX investigation, according to the Daily Mail. The university shut down the Chi Phi chapter, and two of the men were expelled, the outlet reported. New York Attorney General Letitia James has since been appointed to look into the allegations as a special prosecutor. Last week, Cornell suspended all parties and social events at fraternity houses through the end of the 2026-27 academic year, the Daily Mail reported.

No one has been criminally charged in the case, and the claims in the civil lawsuit have not been proven in court. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.