Shawn Carter, known professionally as Jay-Z, is in a legal war as he fights the rape allegation against him.
A new lawsuit — the third centered on allegations that Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs raped a 13-year-old girl in 2000 — was filed by Jane Doe’s attorney Tony Buzbee against Carter’s Roc Nation, two legal firms, an attorney and an investigator in Harris County, Texas, on Dec. 18. Buzbee alleged that the defendants conspired to “obstruct justice” by attempting to solicit his former clients to sue his Texas law firm.
Buzbee claimed attorneys and Roc Nation used “shadowy operatives” and monetary payoffs — including one for as much as $10,000 — to try to flip his clients and get them to bring “frivolous” cases against Buzbee Law Firm. Buzbee claimed the operatives impersonated Texas state officials and “flashed fake badges.”
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Roc Nation called the lawsuit “baloney” and “another sham,” in a statement to USA Today.
The same day, Carter’s attorney Alex Spiro filed a motion to dismiss Carter from Doe’s rape lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, due to “glaring inconsistencies and outright impossibilities in her story,” court documents obtained by Yahoo Entertaiment show.
In the filing, Spiro pointed to Doe’s Dec. 13 interview with NBC News, which cited inconsistencies in her story. Doe stands by her allegation. The court documents also criticize Buzbee — who’s representing numerous people claiming to be victims of Combs, including Doe — for bringing the legal action without properly vetting it.
“Following the NBC report, it is clear that Buzbee” filed the rape lawsuit against Carter “without so much as a cursory investigation into the factual merit of his client’s case. These allegations have caused incalculable harm to Mr. Carter, his family, his businesses, his employees and his legacy,” the filing stated.
On Dec. 8, Carter was named in the amended civil lawsuit alleging that he and Combs raped Doe, who was 13 at the time, at a 2000 MTV VMAs after-party. Both Carter and Combs — who is currently awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges — have denied the allegations.
Here’s everything we know about the rape allegation against Carter.
Oct. 20: A civil lawsuit was filed by Buzbee on behalf of a Jane Doe against Combs alleging that he and another male celebrity (identified as “Celebrity A”) raped her when she was 13 while an unidentified female celebrity (“Celebrity B”) watched. The Alabama woman said the alleged assault took place at a 2000 MTV VMAs after-party held in a white house a 20-minute limo ride from NYC’s Radio City Music Hall. She said she was made to sign a nondisclosure agreement to enter the party and thinks she was drugged with a spiked beverage.
Combs denied the allegations.
Nov. 18: An anonymous celebrity filed a lawsuit against Buzbee accusing him of an extortion plot meant to destroy his reputation.
Dec. 8: Doe’s lawsuit was refiled and publicly identified Carter as “Celebrity A.”
Carter denied the “heinous” and “idiotic” allegations in a statement on the Roc Nation X account. He claimed Buzbee tried to “blackmail” him to settle out of court.
Buzbee revealed that Carter was the anonymous celebrity who sued him in November after he sent the rapper a demand letter asking to privately mediate.
Carter’s attorney Spiro called the lawsuit a “sprawling extortion saga” in a court filing. He said Carter was targeted to “force payment of an exorbitant sum of money” — “millions” — and when he “refused to pay,” Doe’s amended lawsuit was filed and the “patently false” and “unfounded” allegations were made public.
Dec. 9: Spiro filed to dismiss the case or identify Doe. In court documents, he wrote, “For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Carter is entirely innocent. This is a shakedown.”
Carter attended the Mufasa premiere in Los Angeles, putting on a united front with wife Beyoncé, their daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who appears in the film, and his mother-in-law, Tina Knowles. They didn’t take questions from reporters.
Carter with Tina Knowles, Beyoncé and daughter Blue Ivy Carter at the world premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King in Hollywood on Dec. 9. (Lisa O’Connor/AFP via Getty Images)
Dec. 13: Doe gave an interview to NBC News detailing her allegations.
The outlet reported that there were inconsistencies in Doe’s story, including that she said she talked to Benji Madden at the after-party. Madden’s rep said he and his twin brother, Joel, were on tour with their band Good Charlotte in the Midwest at the time.
Doe also said she was driven by a friend from Rochester, N.Y., to Radio City in Manhattan, a five-hour ride, in the hopes of getting into the VMAs. She claimed the after-party took place in a white house with a U-shaped driveway, a 20-minute drive from Radio City in urban NYC. After the alleged attack, she called her father to pick her up. Doe’s father told NBC News that he doesn’t remember making a 10-hour round-trip drive to pick her up. Additionally, NBC News obtained images from the night in question showing Carter and Combs at a NYC club for an after-party, but the outlet noted it’s unclear if they went elsewhere during the night.
“I have made some mistakes,” Doe told the outlet of her recollections from 24 years ago, but she firmly stands by her rape allegations.
Doe also told NBC News she has autism and previously suffered a head injury.
Carter told NBC News, “This incident didn’t happen and yet [Buzbee] filed it in court and doubled down in the press. True Justice is coming. We fight FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over before it began. This 1-800 lawyer doesn’t realize it yet, but, soon.”
Buzbee said, “Doe’s case was referred to our firm by another, who vetted it prior to sending it to us. Our client remains fiercely adamant that what she has stated is true, to the best of her memory. We will continue to vet her claims and collect corroborating data to the extent it exists.”
Dec. 14: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the allegations against Carter won’t impact the league’s relationship with him or the mogul’s involvement in the Super Bowl halftime show. Since 2019, Carter has been working with the NFL, via his Roc Nation company, to produce musical performances at major NFL events and amplify the league’s social justice efforts. The deal was renewed in October.
Dec. 16: Carter’s attorney Spiro invited members of the press to a roundtable at the Roc Nation New York City headquarters and gave a presentation with slides detailing alleged holes in the accuser’s story, according to Us Weekly, which covered it.
“It’s obvious to everybody that Mr. Carter did not do this,” Spiro told the press. “Obviously, Jay-Z did not rape a child. But what I wanna do today is just sort of walk you through some of this so that you can see the truth and you can see what happened yourselves.”
He said that Doe’s lawsuit “is starting to unravel and the truth is coming out.”
Spiro also said that Carter had nothing more than a cordial professional relationship with Combs.
“They knew each other professionally for a number of years,” Spiro claimed. “Just like in all professions, people know each other. At the music awards, they support each other. If you go to the NBA All-Star game, they support each other. That’s just how professions work. There is no closer association between any of them. That’s also a matter of fiction.”
Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs at Combs’s Fourth of July party in 2000 in East Hampton, N.Y. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Further, Carter “doesn’t know anything about the charges or allegations against [Combs]. He has nothing to do with that case and there’s nothing more to say.”
Spiro also promised “dozens and dozens of people” will come forward to say “there was no party in the ‘white house,’” as Doe alleged.
Spiro told reporters that Carter is “upset” about the allegations. “He’s upset that somebody would be allowed to do this, would make a mockery of the system like this. He’s upset that this distracts and dissuades real victims from coming forward. He’s upset that his kids and his family have to deal with this. He’s upset and he should be upset.”
Buzbee issued a statement to Us Weekly after the press event, saying, “This client was signed up and referred to our firm by another law firm. That law firm drafted the initial complaint. However, four individuals at our firm have also interviewed the client and checked details after accepting the referral. A background check was run on the client. We also engaged a seasoned investigator to vet some details she disclosed to us. Those results were consistent with what the client had told us.”
Buzbee also said that at least three lawyers from his firm interviewed Doe before filing the amended complaint that named Carter. She has signed two separate affidavits and is adamant about her claim. He also called Spiro a “bully.
Dec. 18: Buzbee sued Roc Nation, Spiro’s law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and lawyer Marcy Croft, accusing them of violating various Texas state laws by allegedly using “shadowy operatives” and promised payoffs, in one case as much as $10,000, to convince Buzbee’s former clients to sue his law firm.
“Unfortunately for the Defendants, their agents are not very smart, or careful,” Buzbee’s lawsuit said. He claimed the agents impersonated Texas state officials and “flashed fake badges.”
Roc Nation said in a statement to USA Today, “Tony Buzbee’s baloney lawsuit against Roc Nation is nothing but another sham. It’s a pathetic attempt to distract and deflect attention. This sideshow won’t change the ultimate outcome and true justice will be served soon.”
Croft, who works for Roc Nation’s philanthropic arm, Team Roc, also denied the “fantastical allegations” to the same outlet and said she looked forward to having the case “dismissed.”
The same day, Carter’s lawyer Spiro filed a motion to have him dismissed from the rape case. It points to the inconsistencies in Doe’s story brought forward in her NBC News interview.
“Court should dismiss Plaintiff’s entire [lawsuit] and, at minimum, strike the allegations contained therein referencing Mr. Carter and dismiss him from this action,” the court papers stated.
The filing also called out Buzbee, claiming he “failed to vet [Doe’s] allegations before filing this lawsuit or amending it to include Mr. Carter.”
Updated, Dec. 19 at 12:50 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to reflect a new lawsuit from Tony Buzbee and a motion from Carter’s lawyer to dismiss the rapper from the rape lawsuit.
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