Oct 20, 2026 3:13 pm
Reading time: about 1 minutes
Former president of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity, Orazio Petito, has been removed as a defendant in the September lawsuit alleging a 2024 gang rape at the Chi Phi house. In the original filing, Petitio was incorrectly identified as fraternity president at the time of the alleged assault, according to ABC News.
Petitio was not accused of sexual assault in the lawsuit.
In the Sept. 14 lawsuit, Petitio was accused of “failing to exercise reasonable care” to prevent the defendants from allegedly sexually assaulting the plaintiff — a former Cornell student identifying as Jane Doe. The accusation against Petito was discontinued on Tuesday.
“The plaintiff holds Mr. PETITO, his counsel, harmless from any LIENS that are known and/or unknown at this time,” a Tuesday court filing signed by Thomas Giuffra, an attorney for Jane Doe, reads.
Petito’s attorney, Eric Bernstein, told ABC News that this was the “right outcome.”
“My client deserved to be released from this case,” Bernstein told ABC News. “They had the wrong … guy and justice was served as far as Mr. Petito was concerned.”
Varsha Bhargava
Varsha Bhargava is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is the managing editor of the 144th Editorial Board and was a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board. She can be reached at vbhargava@cornellsun.com.
