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JAY-Z thinks his extortion case against Tony Buzbee is stronger than ever now that the Texas attorney's client recanted her rape allegations.
According to a report Rolling Stone published on Monday, September 28, attorneys for the multihyphenate artist, born Shawn Carter, requested that a California appeals court revisit his extortion and defamation case against Buzbee and his law firm after the court recently refused to revive it. Carter's previous attempt to appeal the lower court's dismissal failed last year. Now, his legal team believes the former rape accuser's retraction revealed "explosive new evidence" that should allow the lawsuit to move forward in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
In the retraction submitted last week, Jane Doe admitted that Carter "never" raped her and said she'd never met him before. "Carter never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever,” the woman wrote. “There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter. I understand my false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone.”
Carter sued Buzbee in Los Angeles two years ago. In his lawsuit, Carter accused Buzbee of making rape allegations he knew were false in a demand letter for money to resolve the matter. At the time, Buzbee was already in the middle of Jane Doe's lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, who she also accused of raping her at 13 at an afterparty for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. Buzbee had claimed that a second, unnamed celebrity also raped Doe with Combs. After Carter declined to entertain the demand letter, the rapper's lawyers argue that Buzbee amended the rape lawsuit to include Carter as Combs' co-defendant.
“I felt that Mr. Buzbee was placing a gun to my head that I either bow to his demands or endure personal and financial ruin," JAY-Z said about Buzbee. "His actions caused me mental anguish about the ticking time bomb and what it would do to me, my family, and my hard-earned reputation."
Multiple hearings were held for Buzbee's motion to dismiss, where Carter's team submitted evidence that suggested Buzbee introduced the idea of adding the Grammy Award-winning rapper into Doe's rape lawsuit. The evidence stemmed from a private conversation Doe had with Carter's legal team, in which she allegedly said, “It was more Diddy, but Buzbee brought Jay-Z into it.” Despite the admission of the recorded discussion, Los Angeles County Judge Mark Epstein ultimately dismissed the case, but wasn't satisfied with the outcome and essentially left it up to the appellate courts to decide.
In his latest motion, Carter cites another part of Doe's recent retraction where she claims she told her lawyers she "doubts about [her] claims" before she allegedly agreed to drop the rape lawsuit in February 2025. “I never received any threat from Mr. Carter or anyone acting on his behalf,” Doe said in her new declaration. “No one at the Buzbee Law Firm or any other law firm ever told me about a possible settlement of the New York Lawsuit. I did not authorize a settlement.”
When Carter's lawsuit was dismissed, the California appeals court based their decision on the idea that Doe dismissed the lawsuit to “protect herself from harassment and invasion of privacy.” Now Hov's legal team argues Buzbee got the rape lawsuit dismissed “to protect himself” from further legal action. They are asking a judge to give Carter an "opportunity to prove his case through limited discovery on remand.”
“If the discovery shows what he expects, then the case should proceed to trial where a jury can decide who is right," the petition says.
Buzbee has denied the allegations on multiple occasions. His law firm recently called the lawsuit “improper” and “abusive.” Buzbee's lawyer also maintained that there's no evidence that he or his firm knew his client lied.
“In sum, there is no evidence that when the Buzbee Parties relied on Jane Doe’s multiple declarations they knew her to be a perjurer. Carter and his attorneys lack the same excuse,” Buzbee’s lawyer, Jessica N. Meyers of Sheppard Mullin, wrote in a letter to the court.