Rolling Stone magazine will shell out $1.65 million to Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in a settlement to drop a defamation lawsuit against the magazine in connection with a now debunked story that fraternity members took part in a gang rape.
Brian Ellis, a spokesman for Phi Kappa Psi, confirmed the settlement to The Washington Post with its terms, and dismissal of the current lawsuit in Virginia state court will be finalized soon.
"It has been nearly three years since we and the entire University of Virginia community were shocked by the now infamous article, and we are pleased to be able to close the book on that trying ordeal and its aftermath," Phi Kappa Psi's Virginia Alpha chapter wrote in a statement, per the Post.
"The chapter looks forward to donating a significant portion of its settlement proceeds to organizations that provide sexual assault awareness education, prevention training and victim counseling services on college campuses," the statement continued.
The 2014 Rolling Stone article "A Rape on Campus," by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, told the story of a woman, identified as Jackie, who had allegedly been gang raped at the fraternity's house. The story set off a police investigation and protests against the story's subject and the fraternity.
The fraternity charged Rolling Stone knew that Jackie was not a credible source, ignored numerous holes in the story, and failed to contact others who could have debunked the subject's allegations.
Local authorities said they found no evidence to back up Jackie's allegations and Rolling Stone officially retracted the article in April 2015.
Former University of Virginia Associate Dean Nicole Eramo, who was portrayed as being callous and indifferent to Jackie's rape allegations, was awarded $3 million during a trial against the magazine in November. She settled her case during appeal for an undisclosed sum.
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