Cornell 7 accusers lawyer claims frat bros had meetings to cover up gang-rape allegations: Conspiracy of silence

Cornell University’s Phi Chi fraternity held emergency meetings to coordinate how to cover up allegations that a student was drugged and gang raped at their house, according to the accuser’s attorney.Thomas Giuffra, the attorney for the accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that after she reported the alleged sexual assault to campus police the “whole fraternity had meetings to try and cover this up and to be part of the conspiracy of silence.”“That’s really frightening that this happened.There were 57 people who got that group chat and not one of them — other than the person who leaked it to her — did anything,” the attorney said, adding he’d just learned of the meeting on Tuesday.“Nobody walked out of those meetings and said, ‘Hey this is wrong, we’re going to the police, we’re throwing these guys under the bus and holding them accountable,’”’ he continued.“All they were interested in was protecting their fraternity brothers and keeping it as business as usual — that’s what they were interested in, not justice, not this woman.”Documents first reported by ABC News this week showed the fraternity scrambled to control the narrative when Doe reported the alleged rape to police out of fear that “the reputation of all involved and the frat would be ruined” — and tried to frame the alleged rape as a “consensual orgy.”“Chi Phi held a meeting essentially to get all of the men on the same page about what happened,” a student told Cornell investigators.

“I know for a fact there are group messages about the situation.”Chi Phi brothers interviewed by campus police insisted they weren’t worried about their night with Doe, claiming the incident only came up casually during their weekly meeting, according to the documents.“We didn’t have a meeting about it specifically,” a brother said.“It was our weekly chapter meeting.

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