A Cornell University fraternity brother facing accusations of gang rape apologized to the alleged victim for the “backlash” she was experiencing, according to a newly obtained phone call. Winston Lee, identified as one of seven Chi Phi fraternity members named in a lawsuit filed last month, allegedly snorted ketamine off the body of the Jane Doe who brought the suit.
In a call with Doe approximately three weeks after the alleged incident in October 2024, Lee expressed regret over the public reaction to the accusations. "I’m so sorry about all like the backlash you’re getting from this," Lee is heard saying in audio of the call, dated November 7, 2024, and obtained by ABC News.
Doe recounted to Lee that she was “completely and totally intoxicated and then given multiple sedatives” before “upwards of eight to 10 men” entered the room at the fraternity house. She told Lee, “This is classified as a gang rape,” prompting a defensive shift in his tone. Lee questioned the purpose of her call, asking, “What’s the purpose for why you decided to call me?”
Lee was reportedly one of the fraternity members who posted a message in a fraternity Snapchat group chat on the night of the alleged incident. The lawsuit states another student, Jonathan Newell, allegedly wrote that there was “free p—y” available in one of the rooms. However, Lee claimed in the call that he was unaware of what was occurring when he entered the room, stating, “There was nothing to say that … anything was happening in that room or anything.”
On the same day she spoke with Lee, Doe also contacted Matthew Ingalls, another of the seven Chi Phi fraternity brothers named in her lawsuit. The following day, November 8, Doe reported the alleged rape to Cornell campus police.
Lee received a two-year suspension from Cornell University following the incident. However, neither he nor the other six fraternity brothers involved in the lawsuit have faced criminal charges. Two students, Ingalls and Newell, were expelled from the university. Details regarding legal representation for Winston Lee were not immediately available.