Las Vegas Aces player Justine Pissott has revealed that she was previously drugged and raped, saying the high-profile sexual assault allegations surrounding Cornell University brought painful memories rushing back.
Pissott, 22, shared the deeply personal disclosure on Instagram while voicing support for a former Cornell student who has accused seven fraternity members of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2024.
The Cornell case has drawn national attention after the woman, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, filed a sweeping civil lawsuit in September against seven current or former members of the Chi Phi fraternity, Cornell University, the fraternity and other parties.
The allegations have not been proven in court, and no one has been criminally charged as of now. Three of the accused men have publicly denied wrongdoing through attorneys. Reuters
For Pissott, however, the story hit close to home.
“As someone who has been drugged and raped, the Cornell 7 situation has been really hard for me to see,” she wrote in her Instagram statement, according to current reports. New York Post
The WNBA rookie said sexual assault does not simply end when the incident itself is over.
She described the lasting aftermath as a mix of confusion, missing memories, self-blame and questions about how someone could take advantage of a person who was unable to protect herself.
Pissott also pushed back on the way survivors are sometimes scrutinized for how they respond after an assault.
She said there is no single “right” way for someone to react to something traumatic.
Her decision to speak publicly, she explained, was not about seeking sympathy.
Instead, she said she hoped that sharing even part of her own experience could make another survivor feel less isolated.
Pissott specifically expressed support for the woman at the center of the Cornell lawsuit, saying she was praying for her as intensely personal allegations are debated publicly.
The Las Vegas guard played college basketball at Tennessee and Vanderbilt before beginning her WNBA career.
The disclosure comes as the Cornell case enters a new and potentially significant phase.
Jane Doe alleges in her 101-page civil complaint that she was drinking with students on October 19, 2024, before going to the Chi Phi fraternity house in Ithaca, New York.
The lawsuit claims she was given additional alcohol, pressured into taking what she was told was ketamine and then sexually assaulted by multiple fraternity members over several hours.
The filing also alleges that messages were exchanged in a fraternity Snapchat group during the incident, including crude remarks allegedly referring to the woman.
Those claims remain allegations contained in a civil lawsuit and have not been established at trial. Reuters
The woman contacted Cornell University Police several weeks after the alleged incident.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten initially declined to pursue criminal charges in 2024.
Van Houten has said the woman’s original sworn statement did not allege that she had been drugged against her will or gang-raped, a characterization her attorney has disputed.
The prosecutor has also stressed that her credibility was not the reason his office declined to bring charges at the time. Reuters
That decision is now being reconsidered.
On September 28, Van Houten announced that his office had reopened its review and intended to present evidence to a grand jury.
A grand jury presentation does not mean charges will automatically be filed. Grand jurors will consider evidence and determine whether there is sufficient legal basis for an indictment.
“Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence,” Van Houten said in announcing the renewed review. WAMC
Cornell has said it supports the reopening of the criminal investigation.
The university also says it conducted its own internal investigation following the original report.
According to Cornell, disciplinary penalties included expulsions and suspensions, although the university has not publicly identified which students received which sanctions because of federal student privacy rules.
The Chi Phi chapter involved in the allegations was closed in 2024 and remains barred from Cornell’s campus. The Cornell Daily Sun
The case has generated intense reaction far beyond Ithaca.
Actress Florence Pugh was among the public figures who spoke out after reading about the allegations, saying the case left her feeling deeply unsettled and calling for greater accountability surrounding violence against women. Vanity Fair
But the renewed attention has also brought disagreements over exactly what investigators knew in 2024 and how the allegations were handled.
Van Houten has defended his office’s original decision while saying new information and the recently filed lawsuit justify another examination of the evidence.
That review could now put the allegations before a grand jury nearly two years after the night at the center of the case.
For Pissott, the legal battle also became something much more personal.
She said she understands how lonely the aftermath of sexual violence can feel and hopes survivors watching the Cornell case unfold know they are not alone.