A Cornell student named among seven fraternity brothers in a Jane Doe gang-rape lawsuit comes from a South Korean political family whose late patriarch shared public stages and private meals with Bill Clinton, even as his mother led a women’s group that scrubbed its online presence after the accusations broke.
Winston Lee stands accused in a civil lawsuit of snorting ketamine off a fellow Cornell student and forcing oral sex during what the filing describes as an hours-long assault involving six other Chi Phi brothers. Reporting details his family background, his continued enrollment, and the push to pull New York Attorney General Letitia James off the related probe.
None of the seven men has been charged with a crime. All have denied wrongdoing. Lee told university investigators the sexual contact was consensual. Cornell still handed him a two-year suspension. The university directory lists him as enrolled this semester in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The lawsuit recounts a Snapchat message from Jonathan Newell to the “Chi Phi Actives” group that read “free p, y.” Lee replied “CHI PHIII,” then allegedly went upstairs with Matthew Ingalls. The filing says the final threesome with Jane Doe ended around 5:45 a.m.
Lee’s grandfather was Lee Hong-koo, South Korea’s prime minister from 1994 to 1995 and later ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2000 during the Clinton presidency. The family is described as descendants of Korea’s former royal line.
Photos from a 2000 Korean War Memorial ceremony in Washington show the two men together for the 50th anniversary observance. In 2005, while Clinton promoted his autobiography, Lee Hong-koo invited him for bibimbap at a Seoul hotel. Clinton was called a “huge fan” of the dish.
When the elder Lee died in May, Winston served as chief mourner at the high-profile Seoul funeral, holding his grandfather’s portrait in white gloves.
Winston’s father, Barton Lee, is a Yale-educated investment banker and managing director who heads Asia operations for EIG in Hong Kong. His mother, Ji Young Hwang, serves as president of the Korean Women’s Association of Hong Kong, a nonprofit recognized by the South Korean government and dedicated to “supporting women’s integration and personal growth.”
After the scandal became public, that association deleted its Instagram page. A popular Hong Kong account, Cantonese Lesson Daily, did not let the move pass quietly.
"Shutting down their Instagram account feels like a move to protect one of their own rather than stand by their mission."
The same post added that the conduct her son is accused of “is fundamentally antithetical to the core principles of any group dedicated to supporting, protecting, and empowering women,” especially with the president of the organization involved.
Lee attended the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, described as a $150,000-a-year boarding school, before Cornell. He has hired a high-profile law firm previously retained by Sean “Diddy” Combs and Harvey Weinstein.
The day after the alleged incident, Jane Doe texted Newell: "I don’t think we should feel any shame.... Our body our choice." Her lawyer later framed the message as part of the processing she was going through from denial to acceptance.
Attorney General Letitia James, acting as special prosecutor, took to social media to call Doe a “survivor” and declared, “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable.” That public endorsement is now central to a fairness fight that has already drawn national attention, including coverage of how Trump demands Letitia James be removed from the Cornell matter.
On Oct. 9, Lee’s attorney Teny Geragos filed to have James taken off the case. Gillio Lopes, another of the accused, joined the request.
"It is the height of unfairness that an uncharged person like Mr. Lee, presumed to be innocent, should be investigated by anyone, much less the AG, who has already publicly endorsed the purported victim and concluded the accused are guilty."
The same due-process objection has surfaced in related reporting on why Trump says Cornell fraternity suspects won’t get a fair shake from Letitia James, underscoring how quickly the attorney general’s comments became a political flashpoint.
James has insisted her office can still run a fair process, a stance examined when James vows fair Cornell probe after Trump calls her corrupt. Critics note the sequence: public labeling of the accuser as a survivor first, investigation of uncharged students second.
The case sits at the intersection of wealth, foreign political lineage, and American university discipline. Lee remains on campus rolls after a multi-year suspension. No criminal indictment has followed the civil claims. The special prosecutor has already voiced a conclusion about what the young woman “endured.”
Separate political noise has also attached itself to the broader Cornell fraternity story, including moments when AOC’s town-hall account of Cornell fraternity assault clashes with sworn statement and campus records. The core dispute stays simpler: lawsuit allegations of non-consensual acts and drug use, flat denials, a university suspension short of expulsion, and an attorney general who spoke before any trial.
Family sources have described the Lees as consumed with shame. The women’s association once led by Lee’s mother chose silence online rather than a public defense of its stated mission. Meanwhile the student at the center of the filing still appears in Cornell’s directory.
Presumption of innocence is not a slogan for the courtroom alone. When prosecutors and campus officials treat civil accusations as settled fact, the process itself becomes the first verdict, long before any jury is seated.
