Natania Reuben, a victim of the 1999 nightclub shooting involving Diddy, is calling former Bad Boy Records rapper Shyne a con artist, accusing him of deceit and unpaid debts.
“Shyne did not shoot me because he didn’t, but Shyne is a con artist,” Reuben stated unequivocally in an interview with The Art of Dialogue. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, we know Shyne was innocent.’ No, you don’t know a g####### thing because he’s far from innocent.”
Shyne was convicted on two counts of assault and reckless endangerment as well as criminal possession of an illegal weapon after a seven-week trial alongside Diddy. He was acquitted of charges of attempted murder, on a third count of intentional assault in the first degree of a third victim and one other count. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the eligibility of parole on June 1, 2001. He wound up serving nearly nine years in New York prisons.
But Reuben claims Shyne still has yet to fulfill his financial obligations from their legal settlement stemming from the incident.
“You still owe me money,” she declared. “In the settlement, Shyne was responsible … he didn’t have the money to pay.”
Reuben also claimed Shyne attempted to manipulate his narrative for political gain in Belize. In a recent interview with Chanel 5 Belize, he maintained his innocence.
“Everyone knew all along that I was the fall guy,” he said. “But my political enemies and, you know, detractors try to make me into, you know, this criminal. But everyone knew that I was a young kid that took the fall. Everyone knew that, that was the story. I’m just saying that I maintained my innocence all this time.”
But Reuben remains suspicious, saying, “He’s going to jockey off of me saying Shyne didn’t shoot me to try to leverage himself to get that prime minister seat. You ain’t nothing but a penny Annie Shyer, a shady car salesman, a dressed-up fraud, a liar.”
Reuben further accused Shyne of using her name to advance his career while living lavishly.
“You driving a Maybach in Belize, you walk around doing this,” she said. “You were able to get back in the country because you were the head of the… You at Fat Joe’s party… turning your narrative over and over, changing the wheel.”
Reuben expressed frustration over being repeatedly drawn into Shyne’s falsehoods.
“You had no right to leverage my name in your lies,” she said. “I’m not letting up off the gas until you tell the truth, until you’re made responsible.”
Additionally, Reuben plans to bring forward Julius Jones, another victim, to corroborate her claims.
“Shyne shot Julius Jones, and I can prove it to you… I will bring Julius Jones to the surface to tell y’all himself.”
Reuben also shared her disappointment over Shyne’s actions, despite initially being proud of his transformation into a community activist: “I was very proud of him, but now cut the shenanigans.”
