Jay-Z has filed a lawsuit against lawyer Tony Buzbee, his colleague David Fortney and their Jane Doe client over their previously dropped suit alleging that he and Sean “Diddy” Combs sexually assaulted her when she was 13.
The music mogul, real name Shawn Carter, filed the suit on Monday 3 March, in which he argues that the woman made false and defamatory statements about him for financial gain.
In the lawsuit filed in Alabama — where the woman reportedly lives — and seen by US media, Jay-Z also said that both the woman and her lawyers, Buzbee and Fortney, were “soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency”.
The Jane Doe withdrew her lawsuit in February without prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. She added Jay-Z as a defendant in December, two months after first filing the suit against Combs in New York.
In the lawsuit, the woman alleged that she had been offered a ride to a party at a private residence by a limo driver for Combs, following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.
Once there, she claimed, she was raped by Jay-Z and Combs. Both men vehemently denied the allegations.
Jay-Z alleged in his new lawsuit that the October filing was founded on false information from the Jane Doe and her lawyers, and that they “launched to extort” him through “a menacing ‘private’ ‘demand letter’.”
The filing claimed that the woman “voluntarily admitted” to Jay-Z’s representative that he “did not assault her” and that Buzbee “pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday”.
In a statement to People on 3 March, Buzbee said: “This new case alleges the same claims as the other one they pieced together and filed in Los Angeles. Like the one in LA, this new case in Alabama also has no legal merit… she stands by her claims.”
The statement continued: “After speaking with Jane Doe today, it appears that the quotes attributed to her in the lawsuit are completely made up, or they spoke to someone who isn’t Jane Doe.
“This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course. We won’t be bullied or intimidated by frivolous cases.”
Jay-Z called the woman's decision to withdraw the lawsuit “a victory” and said the “fictional tale” she and her lawyers created was “laughable.”
“The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed,” he said in a statement posted on social media. “This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere.
“This 1-800 lawyer gets to file a suit hiding behind Jane Doe, and when they quickly realize that the money grab is going to fail, they get to walk away with no repercussions. The system has failed.
“The court must protect victims, OF COURSE, while with the same ethical responsibility, the courts must protect the innocent from being accused without a shred of evidence. May the truth prevail for all victims and those falsely accused equally.”
Combs remains in prison in New York awaiting a criminal trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
