A woman who had previously sued rappers Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs for allegedly r*ping her when she was a minor, has now claimed she had been pushed to file the lawsuit by her lawyer, Tony Buzbee, in a new recording.
For the unversed, an anonymous woman, termed Jane Doe, sued both rappers last year for allegedly taking turns to s*xually assault her during a 2000 MTV VMA afterparty when she was 13. However, Doe withdrew her lawsuit with prejudice in February 2024, meaning the lawsuit cannot be revived.
According to ABC News, who published an excerpt of the recording on March 12, 2025, Doe is reportedly heard talking to private investigators associated with Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter. In the recording, one of the investigators asked Doe:
"He [Jay-Z] was just there, but he didn't have anything to do with any s*xual acts towards you?"
Doe replied in the affirmative, following which she continued:
"He was the one that kind of pushed me towards going forward with him, with Jay-Z."
When the investigators asked if she was referring to her attorney, Tony Buzbee, Doe reportedly said yes.
Tony Buzbee dubbed the claim that he coerced Jane Doe to sue Jay-Z a "blatant lie"
According to ABC News, Tony Buzbee issued a statement after the recording was released. He claimed that the allegation saying that he had a hand in coercing Jane Doe to file the lawsuit against Jay-Z and Diddy, was a "blatant lie"
"As far as the suggestion that I pushed Jane Doe to bring a case against Jay Z - That is a blatant lie that is directly contrary to all the documentary evidence," Buzbee said.
Jane Doe's lawsuit against Diddy and Jay-Z was dropped on February 14, 2025. Following this, Jay-Z countersued Doe, Buzbee and her other attorney, David Fortney, for defamation on March 3, 2025.
The lawsuit claimed Doe tried to "inflict maximum pain and suffering on Mr. Carter" to extort money from him. It also claimed that Buzbee and Fortney were "soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency."
According to ABC News, Doe stood by her claims despite dropping her lawsuit. In a new affidavit filed around the time the rapper filed his defamation lawsuit, Doe claimed she was approached by two investigators, who demanded that she sign papers recanting her allegations, which she refused.
In the signed affidavit, she also claimed she did not tell the investigators that Buzbee approached her as a client or asked her to file the lawsuit against the rapper. She added that she withdrew her case for fear of threat from the rapper or his fans, claiming that she might have to be "publicly named and subjected to public attacks” if the case continued further.
However, Alex Spiro, Carter's attorney, claimed Doe met the investigators voluntarily, adding in a statement at the time:
"She voluntarily met, spoke to them and she told them her truth, which was under no circumstances did Mr. Carter do this."
Spiro reiterated the same claim during an exclusive statement to ABC News after the recording between Doe and Carter's investigators was released, saying:
"She says in no uncertain terms Mr. Carter did not do this. It's effectively a lie and the only reason Mr. Carter is even involved in this is because she was pushed to involve him."
In other news, Sean "Diddy" Combs is currently awaiting trial on s*x trafficking and prostitution charges, scheduled to start in May 2025.