Wolfgang Ballinger’s lawyer claims he was ‘coerced and threatened’ by police

Wolfgang Ballinger was halfway through his junior year at Cornell when he was arrested on charges of attempted rape, a criminal sexual act, and sexual abuse.

The then 21-year-old was alleged to have lured a woman in his frat house bedroom last January, locked the door, and forced her to have sex with him.

After a grand jury indictment, Ballinger’s three felonies were downgraded to a misdemeanor – a plea deal that would come without jail time or having to be registered as a sex offender. He pleaded not guilty.

He is now trying to fight the case, and in an interview with The Tab, his lawyer says they are confident he will win.

“I do think at the end of the day his name will be cleared,” said Sarah Wesley, Ballinger’s attorney. “And hopefully he’ll be able to put this behind him.”

Wolfgang Ballinger

Following his arrest last semester, Cornell suspended Ballinger, banned him from campus, and placed Psi Upsilon – the frat he was president of – on interim suspension.

But Wesley, who represents Ballinger, paints a dark picture of police mishandling the investigation, and claims there are “serious questions of credibility with respect to the ‘victim.'”

The Tab cannot independently verify the claims that Wesley makes and has asked to see video of the police interview in question.

She claimed cops threatened him in interviews and coerced him into giving a statement, trying to pressure him with claims of tampered smoke alarms and a smell of marijuana in his frat.

“Wolfgang’s statement to the police was frankly, ridiculous,” said Wesley. “They threatened him repeatedly throughout the interview process.”

They are now trying to have Ballinger’s statement thrown out of proceedings, and are suing Cornell, alleging the university denied him a fair hearing and bungled the investigation.

She added: “It started out as a scandalous, salacious accusation. The reality is that as time passes, it becomes more and more evident that there are serious questions of credibility with respect to the ‘victim,’ the complainant. As well as questions with the police’s investigation – they didn’t really do an investigation. In essence, a girl came in and said something happened, and they immediately jumped on this crazy train. It’s a witch hunt, in essence.”

Wesley did not elaborate on why she thinks the victim’s credibility is in doubt.

Wesley likened Ballinger’s case to the now-discredited Rolling Stone story of “A Rape on Campus,” which reported a sex attack at UVA that never happened.

“If you look at the case of the Rolling Stone article about Virginia, the allegations that were made that were just unbelievably violent, and yet again, it didn’t really happen the way they said it did. I think ultimately that’s what we’re going to end up with here. I believe in Ballinger’s innocence, 100 percent.”

As the case emerged, media reports pounced on Ballinger as a wealthy scion of New York’s elite – his father is known as nightclub owner with properties across the US and Canada. This appeared to be just another instance of Manhattan’s most privileged misbehaving.

But Wesley dismissed these claims as “not entirely true.”

“He is a genuinely intelligent, hardworking, great kid, who’s had a really difficult life,” she said. “Everyone has painted him in this picture of having this wealthy NYC family, that’s not entirely true. He’s the first person in his entire family to go to college. And nobody really knows that his mom died of cancer when he was 13, and his dad was struggling with alcohol and addiction issues in his youth. Wolfgang sort of raised himself.”

And looking ahead to his February court date, she is confident Ballinger will win.

“I do think at the end of the day his name will be cleared and hopefully he’ll be able to put this behind him and move forward and have a successful life and career and this will be horrible memory. But it is what it is right now.”

Cornell said they cannot comment on an issue related to an active criminal prosecution.

@hshukman