Cornell Gang Rape Accused Diego Sarabia Fired by Wells Fargo as Prosecutors Reopen Investigation Into Alleged Attack

A Wells Fargo employee in Charlotte, North Carolina, reportedly no longer works for the bank after being named as one of seven men in a civil lawsuit alleging that a former Cornell University student was drugged and sexually assaulted.

TMZ reported on 28 September 2026 that Diego Sarabia no longer works at the Wells Fargo branch in Charlotte, where he had reportedly been employed since 2022.

Wells Fargo has not publicly confirmed Sarabia's employment status or the reason for his departure. No criminal charges have been filed against Mr Sarabia or the six other men named in the lawsuit, and the allegations remain unproven.

Employment Ends Amid Renewed Scrutiny

TMZ's unnamed sources said the decision was directly tied to the Tompkins County District Attorney's announcement on Monday that his office was considering criminal charges. The account rests on those sources alone, and Wells Fargo has not publicly confirmed the employment decision.

Queen City News contacted the bank directly but had not received a response when it published its report. Wells Fargo also did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the New York Post.

A court filing dated 23 September shows that a summons for Mr Sarabia was accepted by his mother at a Connecticut home where she is listed as a co-tenant. No public response from Mr Sarabia has been reported.

What the Lawsuit Alleges

The former student, identified as Jane Doe, filed a civil complaint this month. The 101-page lawsuit alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted inside the fraternity house on 19 October 2024, and names more than a dozen defendants, including the seven current and former fraternity members from 2024, Cornell University and the Chi Phi fraternity.

According to the suit, at about 01:42 one fraternity member sent a crude message to a Chi Phi Snapchat group chat suggesting a woman upstairs was available for sex. The lawsuit includes a screenshot of an apparent group chat that mentions Mr Sarabia, but the complaint's claims have not been tested in court. Cornell ran its own disciplinary process.

Ms Doe's attorney, Thomas Giuffra, says only two of the seven accused were expelled, while others received lesser sanctions, but Cornell disputes that characterisation, saying its Title IX process resulted in sanctions including expulsions and suspensions, while federal privacy law bars it from disclosing individual outcomes.

Cornell's Chi Phi chapter remains barred from campus.

Why Prosecutors Declined, and Why They Returned

District Attorney Matthew Van Houten's 28 September statement, published on the Tompkins County website, gave his office's reasoning.

He said Ms Doe gave Cornell University Police Department a nine-page sworn statement in November 2024 in which she described some of her drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary and consensual, and that her initial account did not allege that she was drugged against her will or gang-raped.

He concluded that the facts as she then set them out did not meet New York's legal definition of lack of consent. Mr Van Houten also described the behaviour attributed to certain fraternity members as disgusting and morally reprehensible.

Mr Van Houten said he had not been contacted by Ms Doe's attorneys before the lawsuit and that he subsequently contacted them to understand the discrepancy between the accounts.

He has asked a senior prosecutor experienced in sex-crime cases to prepare a grand jury presentation, which can consider Ms Doe's testimony and any new evidence raised by the civil complaint.

Mr Giuffra disputes the district attorney's account. He says his client was not contacted by district attorney investigators after her police report and that she was in denial and traumatised shortly after the alleged assault.

What Happens Next

Cornell said it supports giving Ms Doe's allegations an opportunity to be heard before a grand jury. Among the defendants, only Scott Kretzschmar's attorney, Jeremy Saland, has issued a public statement so far. ABC News has also asked the named defendants for comment.

A grand jury decides only whether charges are warranted, not guilt, and every defendant is presumed innocent. Whether any of the seven men face indictment will depend on the evidence presented to the grand jury, which has not yet been made public.