A Yale student accused of groping a mom in front of her kids on the subway buried his nose in a book while appearing in court today.
Rising sophomore Ari Shtein, 18, was in New York Criminal Court on Wednesday morning after being charged with sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child.
Shtein allegedly forced two fingers inside the 30-year-old mother's vagina as she traveled with her four young children, aged seven to 11, inside a packed subway car on June 28 around 3pm.
He appeared calm as he sat in the second row of a crowded courtroom in downtown Manhattan, thumbing through a copy of Arcadia, a 1993 stage play written by British playwright Tom Stoppard that explores the relationship between the past and present.
Shtein was clean shaven and wearing a white collared shirt, dark blue pants and Adidas sneakers. He occasionally briefly spoke to his attorney, Priya Chaudhry, while waiting for court to start.
His next court date was set for October 29 in a quick hearing that lasted around 10 minutes and where he did not address the court.
The Michigan native was arrested on July 8, more than a week after the alleged subway incident, according to New York court records.
Shtein was arraigned after being taken into custody. He had pleaded not guilty to all the counts against him and been released without bail.
Yale rising sophomore Ari Shtein, 18, has been accused of groping a 30-year-old mother while inside the New York City subway on June 28
Shtein allegedly forced two fingers inside the mom's vagina while in the presence of four children aged 7 to 11. He appeared in New York Criminal Court on Wednesday morning
The New York City Police Department's Crime Stoppers unit released this photo of Shtein after the alleged train assault, which they said led to the woman being taken to a local hospital
The alleged assault happened on the uptown R line as the train approached the West 28th Street stop (stock image)
Shtein and Chaudhry declined to offer comment after his minutes-long court appearance.
Chaudhry later told the Daily Mail on Wednesday via email that 'Ari has done nothing wrong.'
'This false allegation has been incredibly difficult for this innocent teenager and his family,' she added. 'We have faith that the prosecutor's investigation will lead them directly to his innocence.'
Chaudhry represented Hollywood actor Jonathan Majors in his domestic violence case, film producer Paul Haggis in his civil rape case and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Jen Shah in her telemarketing fraud case.
Shtein's alleged assault on the mom, whose identity has not been disclosed, happened as the uptown R train approached the West 28th Street stop.
She told a police officer that she saw Shtein 'standing immediately behind her and proceed to place his two fingers inside of her vagina,' according to a complaint.
The mom was taken to a local hospital for treatment after the alleged incident, the New York City Police Department's Crime Stoppers unit said on X.
The Manhattan DA sought a $10,000 bond for Shtein after his arrest due to his links to Michigan and Connecticut, where he attends Yale.
However, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Ilona Coleman released the Ivy League student without bail during his arraignment last month.
Public records showed that Shtein's parents are mom Roni Mintz Shtein, an ophthalmologist and associate professor for the University of Michigan, and dad Max Shtein, a professor at Michigan's College of Engineering who once won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
The family lives in a four-bedroom, 2,300sq ft home valued at $720,000 on a tree-lined street in the Wines neighborhood of Ann Arbor.
Shtein did not offer any comments as he left court in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning
His next appearance in court has been set for October 29. Shtein has pleaded not guilty to all the counts he faces
Priya Chaudhry, Shtein's attorney, told the Daily Mail that 'this false allegation has been incredibly difficult for this innocent teenager and his family'
Chaudhry previously said that Shtein was 'visiting bookstores with a friend when his life was turned upside down by a woman who falsely accused him of a vile crime.'
Shtein was reading through a copy of the 1993 stage play Arcadia
'His reputation has been destroyed,' she told the New York Daily News last month. 'Before a single piece of evidence has been made public, he has been labelled a creep and convicted in the court of public opinion.
'On the woman's own version of events, she would have had to have been wearing a swimsuit for the alleged conduct to have been physically possible,' Chaudhry added.
A public LinkedIn profile for Shtein noted that he was a 'fan of classical liberalism and of sanity.'
He started at Yale last August, where he is in the class of 2029 and currently studies mathematics and philosophy.
Shtein has also written for various publications while at the university, including the Buckley Beacon.
In an article published last October, Shtein questioned the value of sexual harassment training for freshmen.
'Was there anyone in that room who planned to go around harassing and assaulting their classmates, without the understanding that it would be wrong to do so?' Shtein wrote. 'What precisely could be gained by a 90–minute explication of that principle?'
He added that 'research suggests' the trainings are 'pretty good at convincing people that comments like 'you look good in your jeans' are always inappropriate.'
Public records showed that Shtein and his parents lived in a home valued around $750,000 in a tree-lined neighborhood of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Public records said that Shtein's parents were Roni Mintz Shtein (left) and Max Shtein (right), both 50. Both work at the University of Michigan
Shtein has also published his own writings on a personal Substack.
In January, he pushed back on a bystander intervention training about 'breaking the script of sexual violence.'
Rhetorically answering a question about why the workshop made him 'so worked up,' Shtein wrote: 'I can only offer you this in the way of psychoanalysis: I think I'm pretty damn insecure.'
'Like, about my intellect, and especially about the general perception of it,' he continued. 'I want people to think I'm generally smart and interesting — I want them to act toward me like they would act toward someone who's smart and interesting.'
Shtein started working as an editorial intern for the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank in Los Angeles and Washington DC, this May.
