Cornell rape investigation will be led by a former prosecutor in the Sean 'Diddy' Combs case

A reopened criminal investigation into gang rape allegations at Cornell University will be led by a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who oversaw high-profile sex crimes cases against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and fashion executive Peter Nygård, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday.

Jacqueline Kelly, a Cornell alumna and partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, will serve as outside counsel for James' investigation, which was spurred by a former student’s allegations in a September lawsuit that several men raped her at a fraternity party in October 2024.

Kelly and a team of lawyers and investigators from her firm and the attorney general's office will be responsible for gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, reviewing investigative records and reports, and analyzing the facts and applicable law, James said.

They will report to James, who was appointed last month by Gov. Kathy Hochul as a special prosecutor overseeing the Cornell probe. James, a Democrat, made the announcement a day after winning election to a third term.

Separately, two men named as defendants in the former student's lawsuit are want the attorney general removed from the investigation. They argue James is biased because of a social media post she made before her appointment that expressed support for the accuser. A judge has yet to rule.

“Jacqueline Kelly is a seasoned prosecutor who has overseen numerous cases from investigation through trial,” James said in a statement. “With her criminal legal expertise, commitment to public service, and judicial experience, I am confident that she will lead a fair and comprehensive investigation.”

Kelly, a Columbia Law School graduate, was a prosecutor in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office for nearly a decade and led the civil rights unit in the office’s criminal division. She oversaw investigations and prosecutions of civil rights offenses, voting rights violations, sex crimes and hate crimes.

She left last year to join Boies Schiller Flexner and will remain at the firm while she conducts the Cornell investigation.

“All New Yorkers deserve a fair and thorough inquiry into the facts of this case,” Kelly said. “I look forward to lending my years of experience as a federal prosecutor to the Office of the Attorney General as we examine all available evidence.”

Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor on Oct. 1, saying she had lost faith in the local prosecutor, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, who declined to bring charges in 2024.

Van Houten said he would restart the investigation following the former student's lawsuit, but a lawyer for the accuser said the district attorney was preparing to bring the matter to a grand jury within two weeks.

James has said her investigation will take months.

The former Cornell student, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, alleged in her lawsuit that some of the men pressured her into using ketamine and marijuana and that she drank alcohol that left her too intoxicated to consent. A few weeks later, she said, she made reports to campus police and the university's Title IX office.

The case roiled the Ivy League institution, raising questions about how universities, police departments and local prosecutors respond to campus sexual assaults.

Last month, Cornell hired former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review how the school investigates sexual assault and sexual harassment, how the disciplinary process works, the campus police response and more.

As a federal prosecutor, Kelly supervised the prosecutions of former Manhattan neurologist Ricardo Cruciani, who killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on federal charges after his conviction in state court for molesting patients, as well as Bronx music teacher Jesus Concepcion, who was sentenced in 2024 to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing five students. She also took on the mafia, prosecuting a dozen members of the Lucchese crime family.

At Boies Schiller Flexner, she focuses on regulatory and criminal investigations and represents victims of sexual assault and other crimes. The firm, co-founded by lawyer David Boies, is known for representing victims of the late Jeffrey Epstein, as well as corporate clients including Amazon and the defunct health technology company Theranos.

James, whose office is geared toward civil litigation and consumer protection, has turned to outside counsel in the past to assist in investigations.

In 2021, she appointed two outside lawyers, former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim and employment lawyer Anne Clark, to conduct a non-criminal investigation into sexual harassment allegations against then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, leading to his resignation. Cuomo denied the findings in their report.