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New York Attorney General Letitia James has pledged a full and fair investigation into the Cornell 7 gang rape allegations, years after she faced accusations that she ignored warnings of sexual misconduct against her former chief of staff and allowed him to ” quietly resign” while allegedly keeping his accuser in the dark.
The claims stemmed from a 2022 lawsuit filed by James’ former deputy press secretary, Sofia Quintanar. A New York judge dismissed the claims against James personally and the Attorney General’s Office in February 2025. The decision was upheld by an appellate court in May 2026.
Those allegations against James have received new attention after New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed James as special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang rape at a fraternity house associated with Cornell University in October 2024.
“Kathy Hochul lost faith in the local DA’s handling of the Cornell sexual assault case. So she picked Letitia James. Did you read Sofia Quintanar’s lawsuit, Governor?” Sam Antar, a fraud investigator based in New York wrote on X.
CORNELL SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE REVIVES SCRUTINY OF A LITTLE-KNOWN NEW YORK LAW ON INTOXICATED VICTIMS
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during an announcement on the Standing Up to ICE outreach program at the governor’s office in New York City, Aug. 12, 2026. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)
“You’re entitled to question the DA’s handling of Cornell,” Antar continued. “We’re entitled to question James’s handling of her own aide and your choice of James to restore public confidence.”
James is already facing calls to recuse herself from the case after an attorney for one of the defendants pointed to social media posts she made days before her appointment that appeared to take the alleged victim’s side.
“What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” James posted on X on Sept. 28. “I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you.”
Andrew Miltenberg, an attorney representing accused student Gillio Lopes, filed a court petition on Oct. 7 requesting James to be removed from the case. Miltenberg argued that James’ remarks raised concerns about whether she could independently evaluate the evidence and determine whether criminal charges were warranted.
“New York Attorney General Letitia James has always taken these matters seriously and followed the facts and the law,” a spokesperson for James told Fox News Digital.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital that James’ public comments could complicate her investigation.
“It is problematic for a prosecutor like Tish James to be commenting on a case publicly before the investigation is concluded,” Rahmani said.
“And the problem is, if you file criminal charges whether it’s through a complaint or a grand jury indictment, that may taint the potential jury pool in a criminal case,” he added.
Rahmani acknowledged that James likely did not anticipate being appointed when she made the remarks but said defense attorneys could still raise concerns about her involvement.
Hochul has defended her decision to appoint James.
“I have every confidence in our Attorney General to do what she has always done: look at the facts, examine the record and draw the proper conclusions,” Hochul said during an Oct. 2 news conference. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case.”
James also pledged in an Oct. 1 statement that her office would be “guided by the facts and the law.”
“The Governor has entrusted my office with this investigation, and we do not take that responsibility lightly,” James said.
But others, in addition to Antar, say New Yorkers shouldn’t move on from the previous allegations raised against James by her former employee.
“What about justice for former staffer Sofia Quintanar?” Lattina Brown posted on X. “She spoke out about sexual harassment and NY AG Letitia James had this woman blacklisted in the entire state of NY. The Dems turned their backs on this poor woman. Where is the support for the Hispanic woman?”
The litigation centered on James’ handling of misconduct allegations involving her longtime chief of staff, Ibrahim Khan, whom Quintanar accused of forcibly kissing her at a Brooklyn political fundraiser in November 2021.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James attend a press conference regarding an investigation into alleged sexual assault at Cornell University, in New York City, US, October 2, 2026. (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon)
In her lawsuit, Quintanar accused James of overlooking warning signs about Khan’s conduct and protecting him from the fallout after the accusations surfaced.
Her lawsuit claimed Khan was allowed to omit his “unlawful conduct” from his resignation statement and accused James of making “misleading statements” to the press about his whereabouts during the investigation. Quintanar also alleged she was not kept updated on the investigation.
The complaint pointed to earlier accusations involving Angel Dubose, a former employee who claimed she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a 2014 holiday party while James served as New York City’s public advocate.
The lawsuit referenced a 2017 New York Post article linking Khan to the alleged assault. However, the newspaper later removed the report after learning that Dubose could not recall who attacked her and had never identified Khan as the perpetrator, the New York Times reported.
James said she referred Dubose’s allegations to law enforcement and other agencies after learning of them in 2017. The Manhattan district attorney’s office and New York City’s Department of Investigation later closed their investigations without filing charges.
James described those allegations as “unsubstantiated,” in a December 2022 NY1 interview.
James’ office said it first learned of Quintanar’s allegations against Khan on Oct. 2, 2022, directed him to work remotely the following day and hired an outside law firm to investigate on Oct. 4.
However, the lawsuit was not dismissed entirely. The appellate court allowed a federal civil rights claim against Khan to proceed and revived retaliation claims against Khan and James’ re-election campaign.
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Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house, left, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, right. An attorney for one of the students accused in a sexual assault lawsuit is calling on James to personally recuse herself from the criminal investigation over her prior public comments. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The investigation substantiated the allegations against Khan, who resigned in November 2022.
Those claims centered on allegations that Khan blocked Quintanar from obtaining a campaign job after she rejected his sexual advances.
In May 2026, an appellate court upheld the dismissal of Quintanar’s claims against James and the Attorney General’s Office, finding that the lawsuit failed to sufficiently show James knew about Khan’s alleged misconduct.
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Fox News Digital reached out to attorneys for Khan and Quintanar for comment.
