JAY-Z is doubling down on his demand for sanctions against attorney Tony Buzbee, filing a blistering court motion for the second time that calls for the lawsuit against him to be thrown out and for Buzbee to be held accountable for what he calls a baseless, reputation-damaging smear campaign.
In his latest filing, JAY-Z’s legal team, led by Alex Spiro, argues that Buzbee has continued pushing a case riddled with inconsistencies.
Jane Doe’s lawsuit alleges that in September 2000, when she was 13 years old, she was lured to an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards, drugged, and raped by both JAY-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
According to her complaint, she had traveled to New York City with a friend, watched the VMAs from outside on a Jumbotron, and was approached by a limousine driver who invited her to an afterparty where celebrities would be present.
The lawsuit states that Jane Doe accepted the invitation and was taken to what she described as “a large white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway.”
Once inside, she recalled seeing several celebrities, including Fred Durst and Benji Madden. Doe claims that after she was given a drink, she began to feel woozy and tried to find a place to sit down.
At that point, she alleges that Combs and JAY-Z entered the room, with Combs telling her, “You are ready to party,” before both men held her down and raped her.
The bulk of JAY-Z’s latest argument centers on a contradiction from Jane Doe’s own father, who told NBC News he has no recollection of making the supposed ten-hour drive to pick up his daughter after the alleged assault.
One of the most damning contradictions, according to JAY-Z’s legal team, is Jane Doe’s assertion that her father made an emergency five-hour drive from Rochester, New York, to pick her up at a gas station after the alleged assault.
In the NBC interview, however, Doe’s father flatly denied remembering such an event. “I feel like I would remember that, and I don’t,” he told the network
“It is now common ground that neither Mr. Buzbee nor any of his colleagues ever so much as asked the Plaintiff’s father whether he remembered playing his critical, multi-hour role in the remarkable tale…,” Spiro snapped. “If they had, they would have learned what a curious NBC News reporter learned by posing that simple, easy question: He remembered no such events.”
JAY-Z’s attorneys argue that this key discrepancy is just one of many red flags in the lawsuit.
They point to Jane Doe’s shifting timeline, factual inaccuracies about the alleged location of the assault, and her incorrect recollection of speaking to a celebrity who wasn’t even in New York that night.
Buzbee, who has been vocal in the media about the case, previously claimed his firm conducted a rigorous investigation before filing.
But JAY-Z’s legal team is calling that bluff, pointing out that Buzbee himself admitted he never personally interviewed Jane Doe before attaching his name to the lawsuit.
“He neither rebuts the inaccuracies Mr. Carter identified…moreover, far from explaining these failings, he admits that he never even interviewed Plaintiff before suing,” Spiro said.
JAY-Z’s attorneys argue that even if Buzbee initially believed the claims, he had a duty to withdraw the case once the inconsistencies became clear.
The rapper’s legal team is seeking sanctions for failing to certify that the claims Jane Doe alleges have factual support.
Spiro argued that Buzbee had either knowingly filed false allegations or failed to conduct even the most basic investigation before dragging JAY-Z into the lawsuit.
The filing paints Buzbee as an attorney more focused on media spectacle than legal standards, accusing him of using the court system to push a narrative that falls apart under scrutiny.
“Mr. Carter seeks only to hold Mr. Buzbee to the ethical standards that constrain any responsible attorney who would solemnly sign his name to allegations in court,” Spiro said.
