Lawyers representing Winston Lee, one of the former fraternity members accused in the Cornell University sexual assault trial, filed a motion Friday in criminal court seeking to disqualify New York Attorney General Letitia James from any future grand jury proceedings.
The motion — filed by attorneys Teny Geragos, Marc Agnifilo and Jacob Kaplan — asked a judge to block James from conducting a criminal investigation into whether former Chi Phi members, including Lee, engaged in sexual assault in October 2024.
Lee’s attorneys argued that the Tompkins County Court has the authority to intervene if necessary to ensure the fairness of the grand jury proceedings. They are asking that all potential future grand jury panelists be interviewed about whether they are aware of James’ comments. They also asked the court to schedule hearings on this issue.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for James’ office said, “In this and every investigation, the Attorney General’s Office is committed to conducting a comprehensive review of nothing other than the facts, evidence and the law.” »
The filing follows a separate legal effort by attorneys for Cornell defendant Gillio Lopes, who earlier this week filed a motion in civil court asking a judge for the same relief: James’ firing following his appointment as special counsel by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Jane Doe’s civil suit was filed last month against seven fraternity members as well as Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity and its sorority. The lawsuit alleges that Lee and Lopes drugged her body and sexually assaulted her. Lawyers for Lee and Lopes say their clients deny the accusations against them.
Two of the other men named in the complaint also denied the separate allegations against them. None of the men named have been criminally charged. Cornell said he welcomed further investigations into the matter. The fraternity and sorority previously declined to discuss the ongoing litigation.
It is also the first time that the well-known legal team, which has handled a number of high-profile sexual misconduct cases, has publicly acknowledged representing one of the men accused by a former Cornell student who filed suit last month under the pseudonym Jane Doe.
Hochul and James “together created a blatant appearance of impropriety that, combined with the AG’s ethical violations, should lead to the AG’s disqualification,” Geragos wrote in a motion filed in criminal court in Tompkins County, the area of upstate New York where Cornell is located.
Geragos pointed to comments James posted on social media as the Jane Doe trial gained national attention.
“What this young woman was forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” James wrote before his appointment as special prosecutor. “To her and all other survivors: you are not alone. We stand with you.”
Lawyers for Lee and Lopes say the remarks show that James has prejudged the case and is unfit to conduct an impartial review of the case. A hearing was set for Oct. 29 in Lopes’ case for James’ office to argue that his appointment should not be rescinded.
“The public needs to be confident that whoever is leading this investigation will evaluate the evidence with an open mind,” Lopes’ lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, said in a statement Friday.
Tompkins County Prosecutor Matthew Van Houten has vowed to present evidence to a grand jury before James’ office begins the investigation.
Van Houten previously found that Jane Doe did not describe a prosecutable crime in a six-page statement provided to police in November 2024 and ruled out the possibility of prosecution. Jane Doe told police that she engaged in a consensual threesome on the evening in question, but that events escalated as she became increasingly incapacitated and more men became involved.
Thomas Giuffra, Jane Doe’s attorney, has previously said that victims of sexual assault sometimes do not immediately recognize the coercive nature of an encounter because they rationalize certain aspects of a traumatic event.
Geragos’ law firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP, has previously represented hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in high-profile criminal trials.
Combs, 56, was acquitted in July 2025 of one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. The jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper and record producer was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison.
The jury in Weinstein’s third trial failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a third-degree rape charge involving Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress. The judge declared a mistrial in May.
In a separate trial last year, the former Miramax chief was convicted of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving Miriam “Mimi” Haley, a former “Project Runway” production assistant. He was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Marc Agnifilo and his wife, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, represent Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In August, Mangione pleaded not guilty to federal stalking charges, kicking off a dual battle in New York state court, where he still faces murder charges.
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