Cornell rape accuser can remain anonymous as judge warns of cyberstalking, threats

The woman at the center of rape allegations against Cornell University students can keep using a pseudonym in her lawsuit, a judge ruled.

New York state Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond ruled on Friday that the accuser's privacy interests, particularly concerns for her safety, outweighed the need to publicly disclose her identity in court proceedings.

The woman, who alleges she was drugged and raped by Cornell University students in 2024, has been the target of threats, her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, said earlier this month.

Although the defendants in the lawsuit did not oppose the request for anonymity, Perry-Bond wrote that "some members of the public have made it their mission to try and identify Jane Doe."

The judge warned that "cyberstalking and engaging in or encouraging threats across state lines, whether it be of Jane Doe, of any of the named defendants, or their attorneys, can be considered a federal crime and perpetrators of those acts may be subjecting themselves to prosecution."

The woman, who was 20 at the time of the alleged gang rape, filed her suit on September 16, prompting prosecutors to reopen a criminal investigation they had initially closed​without charges.