{"id":1413347,"date":"2022-03-31T15:14:44","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T19:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1413347"},"modified":"2022-03-31T15:14:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T19:14:50","slug":"he-was-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-a-woman-whose-boyfriend-later-admitted-lying-he-just-won-a-5-3m-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/he-was-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-a-woman-whose-boyfriend-later-admitted-lying-he-just-won-a-5-3m-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"He Was Accused Of Sexual Assault By A Woman Whose Boyfriend Later Admitted Lying. He Just Won A $5.3M Settlement."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhe-was-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-a-woman-whose-boyfriend-later-admitted-lying-he-just-won-a-5-3m-settlement%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1413347&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-1214867035.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A jury verdict resulted in what must be one of the largest \u2013 if not the largest \u2013 settlements a falsely accused college student has ever received in such a case.<\/p>\n<p>In early September 2015, a Clemson University student named Erin Wingo kissed fellow student Andrew Pampu, according to a lawsuit later filed by Pampu. He alleged that Wingo \u201cbecame preoccupied\u201d with him after they first met and he gave her a ride back to her apartment on his moped. They kissed and the next morning she sent him a text message saying she felt guilty because she had a boyfriend, Colin Gahagan, who was a pledge at Pampu\u2019s fraternity.<\/p>\n<p>For the next month and a half, however, Wingo continued to pursue Pampu, the lawsuit alleged, including \u201crepeatedly initiat[ing] contact.\u201d During this time, Wingo also kept an \u201copen relationship\u201d with Gahagan, court documents state.<\/p>\n<p>On October 24, 2015, Wingo and her friends attended a birthday party for Pampu at his fraternity house even though they hadn\u2019t been invited. Prior to arriving at the party, Wingo drank alcohol, later claiming she \u201cconsumed an implausible 9 shots,\u201d according to Pampu\u2019s lawsuit. She reportedly took that many shots but was able to walk to the off-campus fraternity house without issues. During this time, Wingo also apparently told multiple friends that she wanted to give Pampu a birthday kiss.<\/p>\n<p>Wingo found Gahagan at the party but he dismissed her, telling her to \u201cfind someone else\u201d and \u201cgo have a good time,\u201d according to the lawsuit. Wingo then sought out Pampu, even asking people at the party where he was. When Wingo finally found Pampu, she gave him a kiss on the lips in front of witnesses. Wingo also reportedly told Pampu that \u201cif you don\u2019t kiss me now, you won\u2019t have sex with me tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pampu\u2019s inhibitions were lowered due to the alcohol he consumed, and said in his lawsuit that he usually avoids public displays of affection, but gave in to Wingo\u2019s advances that night. The two eventually left the party to find a private place for their sexual encounter. As Pampu said in his lawsuit, Wingo walked unassisted and showed no signs of intoxication. She didn\u2019t stumble, or slur her words, and was able to hold an intelligible conversation with Pampu.<\/p>\n<p>The two found a secluded area near a shed and the encounter escalated, with Wingo removing her own clothes, according to Pampu\u2019s lawsuit. Pampu thought that Wingo was only going to provide him with oral sex so he asked why she was removing her pants, to which she reportedly responded \u201cso we can have sex.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pampu said in his lawsuit that he repeatedly asked for Wingo\u2019s consent even though she was initiating all the contact. His lawsuit stated that Wingo kept saying she knew what she was doing and consenting \u201cboth verbally and non-verbally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the way back to the party, Wingo reportedly complained to Pampu about past boyfriends, including Gahagan. Back at the house, when Wingo met up with her friends again, she started to cry and asked them why Gahagan didn\u2019t want to be with her. She also texted him. When Wingo returned to her dorm, she couldn\u2019t find her key and remembered she might have left it with Pampu (an important note because she would later say she didn\u2019t remember anything that night). At the time, the resident assistant (RA) provided a temporary key to let Wingo and her friends into her room. At that time, the RA did note any concerns regarding Wingo\u2019s level of intoxication, later telling campus investigators that Wingo didn\u2019t slur her words but was crying about Gahagan. At the time, Wingo didn\u2019t mention anything about being sexually assaulted. Even though the RA was sober at the time this occurred, Clemson would later give Wingo\u2019s \u201cdrunk\u201d claims more credibility.<\/p>\n<p>Before falling asleep, Wingo \u201cexchanged numerous hostile text messages\u201d with Gahagan, which she later deleted before eventually retrieving.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning, Wingo sent Pampu a text message at 10:45 a.m. pleading with him to not tell Gahagan about \u201cwhat happened.\u201d Her text made no mention of sexual assault and was focused on making sure Gahagan didn\u2019t find out Wingo had sex with Pampu. Later, after accusing Pampu of sexual assault, Wingo would tell campus investigators that she woke up at 11 a.m. to hide the fact that she sent the text.<\/p>\n<p>When Wingo accused Pampu of sexual assault, she left out the fact that she texted Pampu the morning after their encounter to ask him not to tell Gahagan and to see if he had her key. Instead, she told investigators that she didn\u2019t remember anything that night and thus could not have consented. Pampu showed the text messages to campus investigators, who ignored them.<\/p>\n<p>Before she made the sexual assault accusation, Wingo told several friends about her encounter with Pampu, but did not say it was nonconsensual and only said she was concerned Gahagan would find out.<\/p>\n<p>A friend of Pampu\u2019s copied and pasted a message from Pampu about having sex with a girl on his birthday and sent it to a group chat that included other fraternity members, including Gahagan \u2013 without Pampu\u2019s knowledge. Gahagan figured out that the text was referring to Wingo based on her actions the night of the party.<\/p>\n<p>Gahagan confronted Wingo that day and asked if she remembered the sexual encounter with Pampu. Wingo claimed she didn\u2019t, even though she had clearly demonstrated previously that she did. Just seven hours after Wingo asked Pampu not to tell Gahagan about their encounter, she started saying she didn\u2019t remember the night at all. Gahagan then told her \u201cit is rape\u201d if she couldn\u2019t remember and helped her accuse Pampu of sexual assault.<\/p>\n<p>According to Pampu\u2019s lawsuit, even as Wingo told Gahagan that she didn\u2019t remember her night with Pampu, she texted a friend saying that Gahagan had found out about her night with Pampu.<\/p>\n<p>Gahagan sent Pampu a text saying \u201cwhether it was your birthday or not. Not too proud of you for taking advantage of Erin like you did last night. The poor girl doesn\u2019t even remember it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pampu was shocked by the allegations and reached out to Wingo to say as much. Suddenly Wingo claimed she couldn\u2019t remember the encounter even though her text messages earlier that day indicated otherwise. \u201cColin\u2019s right, I don\u2019t remember it. I\u2019m sorry. Not all of it at least,\u201d Wingo texted Pampu. Pampu\u2019s lawsuit suggests Gahagan was with Wingo when she sent the texts and may have influenced what she said.<\/p>\n<p>Two days after the encounter, Wingo\u2019s roommate \u2013 who didn\u2019t witness the encounter and only learned about it from Wingo afterward \u2013 told a friend of a friend\u2019s RA that Wingo had been sexually assaulted. The roommate didn\u2019t even tell her own RA, instead going to someone who had no personal knowledge of the incident.<\/p>\n<p>Four days after their sexual encounter, Wingo told a Clemson counselor that Pampu sexually assaulted her. Gahagan was apparently present at these meetings.<\/p>\n<p>Despite claiming she had been sexually assaulted and needed counseling, Wingo attended more events at the same house where Pampu\u2019s birthday party took place.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Gahagan stopped pledging his and Pampu\u2019s fraternity. Text messages later showed that some fraternity brothers were glad he was not a member of the pledge class, which appears to have made him even angrier toward Pampu.<\/p>\n<p>On November 11, two weeks after her encounter with Pampu, Wingo filed a Title IX complaint against him alleging sexual assault. Gahagan was interviewed a month later and reportedly called Pampu a \u201crapist\u201d around campus, according to Pampu\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Months later, Pampu tried to file an incident report against Gahagan for violating the school\u2019s policies against retaliation and breaking confidentiality. He had been told that everyone interviewed during the process must abide by those rules, but Gahagan broke them by calling Pampu a \u201crapist\u201d on campus. Pampu also tried to file a complaint against Wingo claiming that <em>she<\/em> had sexually assaulted him and engaged in a harassment and retaliation campaign against him. He was told by a school official that if he filed the complaint he would immediately be expelled for retaliation.<\/p>\n<p>Pampu also reported several other incidents of harassment and retaliation by Wingo and Gahagan. At a fraternity event, Gahagan mocked about 60 members, including Pampu, by saying \u201cit is too bad you are all down one person now.\u201d He then cussed and shouted at Pampu in front of the other members. The next day, when Pampu left the library, Wingo and Gahagan stared at him, glaring. None of the issues were addressed.<\/p>\n<p>Pampu was found responsible for sexually assaulting Wingo and suspended for one semester along with other sanctions. He was also told not to have contact with Gahagan or Wingo during his time at Clemson. For months, Gahagan would go to the gym when Pampu was working out in an apparent effort to bait him into starting a conflict. Wingo also tried to bait Pampu, sitting four rows ahead of him at a karaoke event despite numerous open seats and continuing to make eye contact and glare at him.<\/p>\n<p>Pampu and Wingo both appealed the sanctions against him, for different reasons. In campus Title IX hearings, accusers can also appeal sanctions. While the appeals were pending, Pampu was informed that he was suspended from the fraternity and had been recommended for expulsion. The decision came after the fraternity received a confidential \u201cpending\u201d disciplinary decision letter. It later turned out that Wingo\u2019s father sent the pending letter, in violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act.<\/p>\n<p>Clemson eventually sided with Wingo\u2019s appeal, increasing Pampu\u2019s suspension by one year, meaning he would be suspended until August 1, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>After the sanctions, Wingo gave a presentation on sexual assault to a Clemson-sponsored event, continuing to insist she had been sexually assaulted. She then profited off her allegations when she was given a cash prize for her presentation. The presentation was also posted online.<\/p>\n<p>Months after Pampu was suspended, in January 2017, Gahagan sent him a text message admitting that he had helped Wingo make a false allegation against him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re innocent,\u201d Gahagan wrote. \u201cI lied in that hearing. Erin wanted to have sex that night. Get your brothers away from me and never touch your life again and I\u2019ll come through with the truth that she lied. I deleted the texts from that night prove she was f****** crazy. You\u2019re innocent. Just pull your f****** boys off me and never touch me again. It\u2019s sad that you were like a brother to me and this happened[.] You\u2019re innocent. Send this to your lawyer. Just don\u2019t call me into the hearing and leave me alone. You\u2019re welcome. That\u2019s all I ask. You\u2019re innocent bud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gahagan also shared screenshots of text messages between himself and a woman sharing data with Wingo\u2019s father. The exchange showed Gahagan told the woman that Wingo lied about being raped, writing: \u201cShe destroyed my life. She deserves, Everything [sic] she gets. She lied about to [sic] everything. She don\u2019t [sic] get raped. The sex with Andrew was consensual.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gahagan further told the woman that she should tell Wingo\u2019s father that he would destroy the father\u2019s life and that his \u201cdaughter is a slut.\u201d He also reiterated that Pampu was innocent.<\/p>\n<p>On March 25, 2022, more than six years after Wingo\u2019s false allegations, a unanimous jury verdict resulted in a $5.3 million settlement for Pampu. A week-long trial regarding Pampu\u2019s defamation and civil conspiracy claims against Wingo, Gahagan, and her father included 10 witnesses that testified that Wingo was not too drunk to consent on the night of the encounter, along with evidence showing exactly how the defendants conspired to falsely accuse Pampu.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to this verdict, Pampu\u2019s attorney, Kimberly Lau, finalized a settlement in 2019 with Clemson University over the school\u2019s Title IX and due process violations involved in their investigation into Wingo\u2019s allegations. The details of that settlement were not made public, but Pampu received a monetary sum and had the disciplinary notation removed from his official transcript.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Pampu nor Lau provided a statement to The Daily Wire prior to press time.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">Become a member now and join our mission.<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A jury verdict resulted in what must be one of the largest \u2013 if not the largest \u2013 settlements a falsely accused college student has ever received in such a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1413347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}