A former Cornell University frat member who was named in a civil lawsuit for allegedly participating in a gang-rape of a female student is believed to have left the United States and returned to Dubai.

Matthew Ingalls was expelled from Cornell after an internal investigation deemed him responsible for sexually assaulting the alleged victim identified as Jane Doe, but he has never been criminally charged and has denied the rape allegations.

The Cornell 7 incident, which occurred in October 2024, entered the public consciousness after Jane Doe filed her civil lawsuit in September 2026 and has since renewed criminal investigations by New York authorities.

The Former Cornell Student’s Neighbor Claimed He Returned To Dubai

According to the Daily Mail, a neighbor revealed that the former student, whose full name is Umar Matthew Ingalls, has left the United States for the United Arab Emirates, where he reportedly had a privileged upbringing.

Court papers previously indicated that Ingalls was at his paternal uncle’s home in Fairfield, Connecticut. However, when the property was contacted, a woman there reported that Ingalls didn’t live there.

A neighbor of Ingalls’ relatives told the outlet that he had not been seen there recently and believed the accused was now in Dubai with his father, who is reportedly an educator at the American University in the city.

The former student came under public scrutiny after the accuser filed her suit that implicated him and six other fraternity members in drugging and having their way with her.

While neither Ingalls nor the other six have been criminally charged, he, along with Jonathan Newell, one of the alleged perpetrators, was expelled, and he has also been blocked from an AI firm he was previously working at.

The News Of His US Exit Has Raised Fresh Questions

Reports of Ingalls leaving the US have sparked outrage online and raised questions about the ongoing investigation.

One angry tweet read, “He ‘fled.’ He was not retreating from an attack. He was the accused attacker.”

Another noted, “He is a depraved individual, and we will remind people of his crimes whenever he tries to hide.”

“An innocent person doesn’t run. If I’m not mistaken, this is the same dude who said ‘You can walk in and whip it out.’ in their group chat while raping a woman,” a third person stated.

Another said, “There might not be an extradition treaty, but they do have the internet in Dubai. The least we can do is let them know whose moved into their neighbourhood.”

“Cowardly creature. He can flee to wherever he wants, he’ll end up in hell where he belongs,” one more person commented.

Matthew Ingalls’ Privileged Upbringing In Dubai And The United States Expose

Public property records cited by the Daily Mail indicate that Ingalls spent his younger years in Connecticut and Washington before his family relocated to the UAE sometime in 2016.

His father is a Yale-educated educator at Dubai’s American University, and his mother reportedly works as an Arabic and English language teacher as well as a wellness coach.

Before enrolling at Cornell, Ingalls attended an elite private school in Emirates Hills, a luxurious neighborhood that has supposedly been described as the “Beverly Hills of Dubai.”

The private school is the institution of choice for some of the wealthiest families in Dubai, and they reportedly send graduates to top universities all over the world, including the United States.

Ingalls chose to study mathematics and economics at Cornell University after sifting through offers from several colleges, including Tufts and the University of Alabama.

At Cornell, he joined the Chi Phi fraternity, one of America’s oldest fraternities and the fraternity whose house the incident took place in.

Ingalls life at the Ivy League school changed after the incident. He, along with several others involved in the alleged assault, was permanently banned from playing rugby, and he was subsequently expelled.

Matthew Ingalls‘ Phone Call With Jane Doe Following The Incident

According to ABC News, the alleged victim recorded phone calls between her and two other fraternity members implicated in the case, including Ingalls. University investigators later received those recordings.

During her conversation with Ingalls, Doe stated she was attempting to understand what had happened to her as she struggled to remember the events that unfolded on that unfortunate night.

“The only way for me to heal is to know what happened. That’s why I’m trying to just piece it together, you know, like I’m just like confused,” she told Ingalls.

She added that she would be able to feel better and remain at the university if he helped her understand what happened. Doe also claimed she arrived at the frat house already intoxicated, but Ingalls claimed he was unaware.

“You did tell me you were sober, by the way. You did, you said you hadn’t been anywhere,” Ingalls insisted.

Doe denied ever telling him such a thing and later asked Ingalls how several other men came into the room, to which he replied, “The door was just unlocked…the party was sort of like crowded…there was nowhere else to go.”

Later in the call, Doe bluntly accused him of assaulting her, saying, “What y’all did would be classified as gang rape.”

Ingalls claimed it wasn’t true, but according to her, it was assault because she didn’t consent to that many people getting involved in the sexual encounter.

New York Authorities Have Reopened The Investigation Into The Cornell 7

Doe initially reported the incident to Cornell police, who relayed it to the Tompkins County District Attorney’s office for review. However, Matthew Van Houten, the D.A subsequently decided not to bring criminal charges.

As reported by ABC News, Van Houten stated on September 27, 2026, that he is reopening the investigation after speaking with the alleged victim and her lawyer.

He also claimed that Doe’s initial statement “described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual.”

The controversy has reached the office of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who on October 1, 2026, appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor in the Cornell fraternity gang-rape case.