Lawyers for Jay-Z, aka Shawn Carter, have filed an affidavit claiming that Tony Buzbee, the attorney who named Jay in a lawsuit accusing him of raping a 13-year-old in 2000 with Sean “Diddy” Combs, tried to coerce an individual to link an unrelated sex trafficking case to Combs.
Carter’s attorneys at Quinn Emanul Urquhart and Sullivan claim that an anonymous woman contacted them yesterday to share her experience with Buzbee Law Firm. She said that she had reached out to the firm in October regarding trafficking and abuse allegations unrelated to both Combs and Carter. The law firm allegedly asked her when she met Combs, despite her unrelated claims, and encouraged her to pursue her claims anonymously, which she did not wish to do.
Buzbee’s firm then pressed her to pursue a civil case anonymously, which she was uninterested in doing. She says that when she brought up the idea of going to law enforcement, Buzbee’s firm said it was “not encouraged.”
Weeks went by without hearing from the firm, and after finally speaking with one of its employees says that she felt pressured to confirm false details. According to the declaration, “she felt directed and coached by Mr. Buzbee’s firm to say that someone held her down and put drugs in her mouth when that was not her experience. She felt forced to lie.”
When she made it clear that she was unwilling to take the firm’s directive, she was dropped as a client. The affidavit says that she felt compelled to share this information “because she felt the conduct by Mr. Buzbee’s firm — specifically, to encourage lies — discredits those who are legitimate victims.” She is speaking out anonymously for fear of retribution from Buzbee’s firm.
Representatives for Buzbee Law Firm did not respond to comment.
This marks the latest in a heated back-and-forth between Carter and Buzbee, who added the mogul’s name to a previously filed lawsuit on Sunday. In a fiery statement, Carter claimed that his lawyer was sent “blackmail” surrounding the allegations from Buzbee to pressure him to settle out of court. He says it had the “opposite effect” and instead incited him to expose the accuser for “the fraud [they] are in a VERY public fashion.”
On Monday, Carter filed a motion to dismiss the suit and for the Jane Doe from the initial lawsuit to reveal her identify so that he can “properly defend himself against this false claim through the legal process in a transparent manner.”
Combs, meanwhile, has been in prison at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York since Sept. 16 on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He has been denied bail three times and will remain incarcerated until his trial on May 5, 2025, when it could be determined that he could face life in prison.
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