Jay-Z says that the woman who accused him of rape continues to spread that claim, despite previously admitting it’s not true, and voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit where the allegation was originally made.
A new legal filing from the rapper hones in on a TikTok video posted last month in which his accuser apparently stated, “You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to get an apology video out of me, I stand on what I said, fuck you”.
The new filing from Jay-Z - real name Shawn Carter - then declares that, “by refusing to apologise, and continuing to ‘stand on what [she] said’, despite all the evidence and, indeed, her own admissions to the contrary”, his accuser “continues to display a shocking and reckless disregard for the truth that is both intentional and malicious”.
The new filing is an amended complaint in the defamation and ‘abuse of process’ action being pursued by Carter against his accuser and her lawyer Tony Buzbee.
In that amended complaint, the rapper says that the false rape allegations cost him and his company Roc Nation millions. He also accuses Buzbee of rewriting Wikipedia to his advantage, and argues that a New York lawyer who works with the Texas-based Buzbee should also be held liable for abuse of process.
Carter’s accuser originally filed a lawsuit accusing Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of raping her when she was just thirteen at an MTV VMAs after party in 2000. She then added Carter as a co-defendant on that lawsuit in December, claiming she was raped by both musicians.
That prompted an angry response from Carter who strongly denied the rape allegation, and accused Buzbee of misconduct over his role in filing the lawsuit. He later said that investigators hired by his lawyers had spoken to his accuser who admitted that the rape claim was untrue and said that Buzbee had pressured her into pulling him into the Diddy lawsuit.
The lawsuit against Carter was dismissed in February, but that didn’t stop the rapper from proceeding with his own litigation against both his accuser and Buzbee. He wants his accuser held liable for defamation, insisting that her false rape claim caused tangible damage, and also accuses Buzbee of abuse of process, malicious prosecution and civil conspiracy.
For his part, Buzbee has denied any wrongdoing. He’s also trying to get the defamation lawsuit dismissed, arguing that Carter has failed to demonstrate that any financial harm was caused by the rape claim, and that his client is protected from a defamation action under US law because she principally made her allegations in a lawsuit that was filed in good faith.
Carter deals with the financial harm point in his new filing. He says that in the wake of his accuser’s rape claim Roc Nation lost contracts in the sports and entertainment space that would have generated at least $20 million; another company he’s associated with was denied a $115 million loan; and the rapper himself was denied a $55 million personal credit line.
Throughout this dispute, Carter and his team have lambasted Buzbee for his alleged misconduct. In the amended complaint they add a new claim against the attorney: that he edited Wikipedia to his advantage and to the detriment of Carter.
The new filing claims that “Buzbee directed his employees to edit Wikipedia pages to enhance Buzbee’s image and damage Mr Carter’s and Roc Nation’s reputations”, all in violation of Wikipedia’s editing rules. Users with an IP address “directly linked to the Buzbee Firm” apparently made “over 100 positive edits to Buzbee’s Wikipedia page”, it adds.
But Buzbee isn’t the only lawyer misbehaving in this whole debacle, Carter’s amended complaint insists. And to that end he wants to pull New York-based Antigone Curis - who worked with Buzbee on the Diddy lawsuit, which was filed with the New York courts - into this litigation.
Buzbee et al filed the Diddy lawsuit that named Carter as a co-defendant using the “electronic filing credentials” of “co-conspirator Curis” in order to mask the fact that Buzbee and his team “were not authorised to practice” in the Southern District Of New York, says Carter’s new filing. And, it adds, “they did so for an improper purpose”.
Buzbee, unsurprisingly, remains forthright in his response to Carter’s latest filing. Asked about the Wikipedia claim in particular, he told Rolling Stone, “That’s a first for me and is incredibly weak”.
And as for Carter’s amended complaint more generally, “the case is meritless and should be dismissed”.