Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z’s scorched-earth defense of his reputation and his company following potentially career-ending accusations of raping a teenage girl with Sean “Diddy” Combs has brought another lawsuit, this time taking on his accuser directly.
The global rap superstar, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, filed a 25-page suit on Monday in a Mobile, Alabama court against the unnamed woman, saying she filed a “false” and “malicious” case that was “strategically and tactically calculated and timed to inflict maximum pain and suffering on [him].”
In the now-withdrawn lawsuit that rattled the pop culture world in December, the woman claimed that when she was 13, Combs and Carter sexually assaulted her at a party after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The suit claims that the woman, who is not named in court documents as she is allegedly a sexual assault victim, knew she was fabricating the story; at one point, the new suit claims, she admitted to Carter’s representatives that the story was made up.
“[The plaintiff] voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story,” the complaint states, adding she was, “pushed [into] going forward with the false story against Mr. Carter.”
The suit alleges that there are three previous dropped sexual assault allegation suits involving the woman who accused Carter and Combs of rape.
Houston Attorney Anthony Buzbee, who is bringing dozens of sexual assault lawsuits against Combs and represents the woman in the case that named Carter, said in a statement that the rapper, which names him and attorney David Fortney, has “no legal merit.”
Buzbee added that the woman continues to stand by her account of what happened at the party in New York 25 years ago. She withdrew the suit after an interview with NBC News exposed some inconsistencies in her narrative — including her account that she was picked up afterwards by her father, who has said he was hours away at the time and has no recollection of that happening, The accuser admitted she “made some mistakes” in presenting the allegations; Buzbee withdrew the case two months later.
In his complaint, Carter claims that the woman was bamboozled by the attorneys, who “falsely, maliciously, and manipulatively” told her that the suit needed to be dismissed because the rap star was threatening to kill her. In truth, the suit claims, the attorneys “were desperate to withdraw the false case or face punishment in court.” This is because Buzbee legally cannot lead the case as he is not able to practice law in New York state, where the case was filed.
On Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter emailed Buzbee’s office to ask if there was any correlation between the back-to-back court decision and his filing but did not immediately hear back.
The Alabama suit filed this week is the latest case in a battle that has played out in court filings after the accusation against the rapper nearly brought career annihilation to Jay-Z and would have deeply disrupted his company, Roc Nation — whose lucrative contract with the NFL could have evaporated amid the controversy. Roc Nation lost over $20 million because of the accusation, the suit claims, but it does not explain how and why that came to be.
The Alabama suit accuses the unnamed woman of defamation of the rapper and reputational harm and accuses both her and the lawyers of malicious prosecution. It’s one of two suits Carter had filed against Buzbee; in a complaint filed in Los Angeles, the rapper claimed that a letter asking for a “confidential mediation” in the woman’s case amounted to extortion. Last week, an L.A. judge reportedly indicated at a hearing that extortion will be off the table in the case but defamation could play out in the courtroom as the rap mogul and attorney continue to lock horns.
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