If found guilty under Michigan’s anti-hazing law, Cao, who was described in court documents as the “pledge master” of the freshman class, faces 15 years in prison. 

Messages left with Ingham County Prosecutor John J. Dewane’s office were not returned, though Dewane said in a March 2 press release that “we look forward to trying this case in Circuit Court.”

After Cao was first charged in 2022, his attorney, Edwar Zeineh, contested the charges by claiming there was insufficient evidence against Cao and argued that the state’s anti-hazing law was unconstitutional.

However, the state Court of Appeals affirmed the law’s validity and the Supreme Court rejected Cao’s subsequent appeal.

Messages left with Zeineh’s office were not returned before publication.

Cao’s criminal trial would mark the first time the most serious charge under Michigan’s anti-hazing law has been used since the law was created in 2004. The felony hazing charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

In November 2021, Nguyen and three other pledges attended a party in the basement of the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity house. The goal of the party, according to a complaint filed by Nguyen’s family, was to get pledges drunk enough so they would blackout or “die” and be reborn as brothers of the fraternity.

On Nov. 20, 2021, at 1:58 a.m. police were called to the house where Nguyen was announced dead at the scene. Three others were transported to Sparrow Hospital. 

An autopsy report later confirmed Nguyen's cause of death as alcohol intoxication.

In 2025, Pi Alpha Phi was handed a 10-year suspension, the longest disciplinary action currently in effect for a Greek-Life organization at MSU. 

Another former fraternity member, Andrew Nguyen, was also charged in connection to Phat Nguyen’s death — the two are not related —  and the hospitalization of three others. That case is still pending, according to WWMT.