Legendary rapper Jay-Z is reportedly taking legal action against his former r*pe accuser and her attorney, Tony Buzbee.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on March 3, Jay-Z—which is the stage name of Shawn Carter, 55—has filed a lawsuit against a woman referred to in the documents as Jane Doe and Buzbee, citing abuse of process, malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy, and defamation.
The lawsuit, reportedly filed in an Alabama court, claims that the accuser and Buzbee conspired to falsely accuse Jay-Z of s*xual assault, resulting in an alleged loss of $20 million. Attorney David Fortney is also named as a defendant in the case.
In his complaint, Jay-Z asserts that the defendants were “soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency,” according to the court filings.
The documents also suggest that Doe “voluntarily admitted” that Buzbee had encouraged her to pursue the false allegations against Jay-Z after a previous demand letter for monetary compensation failed to yield results. Furthermore, Doe is said to have acknowledged that Buzbee introduced Jay-Z’s name into the situation and that they first met at a coffee shop in Houston on the day of her allegedly false NBC News interview.
In response, Buzbee stated to Us Weekly, “This new case alleges the same claims as the one they pieced together and filed in Los Angeles. Like the LA case, this new case in Alabama also lacks legal merit. Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed and intimidated this poor woman for weeks, attempting to make her recant her story. She hasn’t and won’t. She has consistently stood by her claims. Moreover, these same investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay individuals to sue me and my firm. After speaking with Jane Doe today, it appears the quotes attributed to her in the lawsuit are completely fabricated or were taken from someone who isn’t Jane Doe. This is just another attempt to intimidate this woman, and we will address it in due course. We won’t be intimidated by frivolous lawsuits.”
In a December 2024 interview with NBC News, during which her identity was concealed, Doe alleged that Jay-Z had r*ped her in 2000 at a post-MTV Video Music Awards afterparty when she was just 13 years old. Doe also claimed that Sean “Diddy” Combs s*xually assaulted her as well, which Combs has denied.
Jay-Z has consistently denied the allegations. His lawsuit follows the dismissal of Doe’s lawsuit alleging r*pe, which was officially dismissed “with prejudice,” as reported on February 14.
“The false case against Jay-Z, which never should have been brought, has been dismissed with prejudice,” Jay-Z’s attorney Alex Spiro stated at the time. “By standing firm against these heinous and false allegations, Jay has done what few can—he pushed back, never settled, never paid a dime, and ultimately cleared his name.”
