Jay-Z files defamation lawsuit against ‘Jane Doe’ who accused him of rape

Jay-Z arrives in January 2024 for Sony's premiere of "The Book of Clarence" at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. (Michael Tran/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Music mogul Jay-Z has filed a defamation lawsuit against an anonymous woman who earlier accused him of raping her when she was 13, alleging she was banking on “false and malicious claims” for financial gain.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in the Southern District of Alabama – where the woman identified only as “Jane Doe” lives – also accuses her and her attorneys of extortion and of being “soullessly motivated by greed.”

Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, claims the allegations against him were “malevolent efforts to assassinate the impeccable and lifetime-earned character” of his personal and professional life.

The woman in a previous lawsuit alleged rapper and music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jay-Z sexually assaulted her in 2000 at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in Manhattan.

Carter has vigorously denied the allegations. And that case was dropped last month after the woman withdrew her lawsuit against the men, in a notice of voluntary dismissal signed by Doe’s attorneys.

Combs faces more than 40 sexual assault lawsuits and, unlike Carter, has been indicted on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Combs has pleaded not guilty and is in custody awaiting a trial scheduled for May.

Meanwhile, Carter’s lawsuit claims Doe “voluntarily admitted directly to” his representatives that no assault occurred, and it accuses her lawyer, Tony Buzbee, of coercing her into pursuing the allegations to extract a substantial financial settlement.

In addition to the defamation claim against the woman, Carter accuses her and her attorneys of malicious prosecution, abuse of process and civil conspiracy.

Buzbee told CNN the Alabama filing “has no legal merit” and Doe continues to stand by her allegations. He also accused Carter’s investigators of trying to discredit Doe, claiming they were “caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm.” Buzbee further alleged the quotes attributed to Doe in Carter’s lawsuit were either fabricated or came from someone impersonating her, calling the filing “another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman.”

Doe’s other lawyer, David Fortney, did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

Allegations and inconsistencies

Doe’s account, as detailed in her original filing, claimed a limousine driver working for Combs offered her a ride to an after-party, where she allegedly felt “woozy and lightheaded” before being sexually assaulted by Combs and Jay-Z.

Carter’s lawsuit highlights inconsistencies in her story, in part by taking into account a series of responses she gave to NBC News in which she also acknowledged inconsistencies in her recollection of the events.

The woman, however, stood by her allegations against Carter in a declaration filed Monday in Los Angeles superior court in response to an earlier lawsuit filed by Carter against Buzbee. Doe stated investigators acting on behalf of Carter or an attorney retained by him approached her requesting she sign an affidavit retracting the rape allegations against Carter, which she says she refused to do.

“I felt intimidated and terrified at being confronted by these two individuals on my doorstep and that they knew my name and home address despite me being anonymous in the New York Action,” Doe said in the filing.

“Although I ultimately chose not to pursue them, I stand by my claims in the New York Action and believe that I had a meritorious claim against Jay-Z,” she said.

In a February 14 statement through Carter’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, Carter said, “The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. The trauma that my wife, my children, my loved ones, and I have endured can never be dismissed.”

Carter’s Alabama lawsuit claims Buzbee and his legal team “completely fabricated” a narrative for publicity and monetary gain, describing their actions as “willfully conspired.”

His new lawsuit also raises questions about the events leading up to the withdrawal of Doe’s lawsuit, alleging Doe’s other lawyer, Fortney, told her a day before the withdrawal that the case had to be dismissed because Carter had allegedly “made threats against Doe’s life.”

Carter’s attorneys deny this claim, describing it in the lawsuit as “baseless.”

Carter’s lawsuit against the woman, which does not name her, notes he first became aware of her identity in late February and says he has never met or interacted with her.

Article written by Hanna Park and Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN

CNN’s Kevin Flower and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.