COVER STORY Online hunt begins for Korean defendant in Cornell sexual assault suit
A post on X claims Winston Lee, a defendant believed to be Korean who is named in a lawsuit involving Cornell University students, has returned to the school and is attending classes. Captured from X
Online users are trying to find information about Winston Lee, a Cornell University student widely believed to be a Korean national, after a sexual assault lawsuit named seven current and former students at the university as defendants.
A former Cornell student filed the lawsuit in New York this month, claiming seven members of the school's Chi Phi fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted her in October 2024, according to The Cornell Daily Sun. Lee was among the seven defendants.
No criminal charges were filed against the seven students, as a police investigation found insufficient evidence to support criminal charges, according to local media reports. The victim's attorney, Thomas Giuffra, told CBS that only two of them were expelled and the others received only light punishment. The Cornell Daily Sun reported that the defendants "were offered the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to the university."
As reports on the case have spread, a wave of online criticism of the defendants and Cornell's handling of the case has grown. Lee's current whereabouts, including different claims about his military service, have also been the subject of online rumors.
Some online users, who claim to have attended the same schools as Lee, say he attended Seoul Foreign School, graduated from UWC Atlantic in the U.K. and then went on to Cornell. Another graduate of UWC Atlantic told The Korea Times that he was a student council representative.
On Sunday, a post appeared on Reddit titled "People saying Winston Lee is in Korean Army now." However, other posts on social media claimed Lee was recently seen on the Cornell University campus. "As of last week, he was still seen on campus. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the next move made to try and avoid punishment," one online user wrote in a comment on Reddit on Sunday.
On X, another user posted that she had received multiple tips saying Lee was not in Korea but had returned to Cornell.
"Winston Lee is not in Korea! He returned to Cornell and is currently attending classes! I say this as a female Cornell student who is in one of his classes! We were not made aware we were in class with a rapist! He is back from military service and is posing as a normal student!" a user wrote on X.
K News LA, a Korean American newspaper based in the U.S., reported that Lee's LinkedIn profile listed him as attending Cornell from 2023 to 2027, and included a record of service in the Republic of Korea Army and work experience in Seoul.
One person wrote on social media, "As a Korean American myself, after finding out that Winston Lee is serving in the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA), I just wanted to point out that he is a Korean citizen, as Korea does not allow dual citizenship. Why is his citizenship important? The fact itself is not, but this indicates that Winston is probably not his legal name and has a separate legal name in Korean."
The user added that Lee should be held accountable in all of his identities to prevent him from hiding or fleeing to Korea.