An attorney representing a U.S. Marine who shares a name with a former Cornell University fraternity member named in a civil lawsuit says the Marine’s family has faced doxxing, threats and harassment after the plaintiff’s lawyers mistakenly listed his address in court filings.
Elliot Hallak asked New York Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond to remove the filing containing his client’s address from the public record, saying the step would help “alleviate the fallout” for the Marine and his family.
Lawyers for plaintiff Jane Doe acknowledged the mistake and submitted an amended filing with the correct address. Hallak said, however, that the original document remained publicly accessible, continuing to expose his client’s family.
Police officers respond to an act of vandalism at Day Hall on the campus of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, on Monday, October 5, 2026. (Everett Chambala / The Cornell Daily Sun)
“The continued inclusion…of an incorrect address…is causing great hardship to the family of an active United States Servicemember who has absolutely no connection or involvement to this matter,” Hallak wrote.
Hallak said his client “has never been to Cornell University” and was stationed in North Carolina when the alleged 2024 gang rape at the center of Doe’s lawsuit took place.
According to Hallak, the family began receiving harassment and death threats after court filings identified the Marine’s address as belonging to the defendant with the same name. Their phone numbers were also posted online, he said.
Doe’s lawsuit has led to protests and vandalism on campus. At least one other person who shares a name with a defendant has likewise said strangers harassed him because of the case.
Students protest on Ho Plaza at Cornell University on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Ithaca, N.Y., in response to an alleged sexual assault in 2024 involving members of the Chi Phi fraternity. (Richard Beetham for Fox News Dig)
Doe reported the alleged sexual assault to university police on Nov. 8, 2024. She told investigators that she was attacked between 11 p.m. on Oct. 19 and 5:45 a.m. on Oct. 20 at the Chi Phi fraternity house. She also alleges that she was pressured to snort ketamine.
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Cornell suspended the fraternity and disciplined some of the students accused in the case, but authorities filed no criminal charges.
Students protest on Ho Plaza at Cornell University, Monday, October 5, 2026, in Ithaca, New York. (Richard Beetham for News Media)
The lawsuit identifies seven former Chi Phi members as defendants, including the individual who shares Hallak’s client’s name. It also names the fraternity and affiliated organizations, Cornell University, Doe’s sorority and Moonies Bar and Nightclub, where she alleges she was served alcohol while underage.
A close-up of the vandalism at Day Hall on the campus of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Monday, October 5, 2026. (Varsha Bhargava / The Cornell Daily Sun)
In a separate filing, Moonies Bar and Nightclub asked the court to move the case from New York City to Tompkins County, where the alleged events occurred and where many of the defendants are based.
The Chi Phi fraternity house stands on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, N.Y., on Oct. 2, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has assigned Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the case.