the law

Jay-Z Named As Co-Defendant in One of Diddy’s Sexual-Assault Lawsuits

2018 Roc Nation THE BRUNCH
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation

Jay-Z has been accused of raping a 13-year-old girl with Sean “Diddy†Combs after the 2000 Video Music Awards, according to a recently refiled lawsuit. Initially filed on behalf of a Jane Doe by Tony Buzbee, NBC News is now reporting that Buzbee has refiled the suit with Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, as a defendant. It is the first of these lawsuits to name another high-profile defendant.

The suit claims that in 2000, when Jane Doe was 13, she went to the Video Music Awards without a ticket and approached limousines to try and get into after-parties. Doe recalls someone who said they worked for Combs saying she “fit what Diddy was looking for,†then taking her to a party where she says she was made to sign a document she believed was a NDA. She claims she was offered a drink that made her feel “woozy, lightheaded and felt [like] she needed to lie down.†Combs and Carter allegedly entered and said, “You are ready to party!â€Â Carter then allegedly took off her clothes, held her down, and raped her while Combs and an unnamed celebrity woman watched. Allegedly, Combs attempted to force her to perform oral sex, but she says she hit him in the neck and he stopped. The lawsuit says she gathered her clothes and called her father from a nearby gas station.

Per NBC News, Carter was notified by letter ahead of the lawsuit’s refiling. According to the suit, Carter has filed a lawsuit against Buzbee and his associates. After the news broke, Carter’s company Roc Nation tweeted an open letter from Carter to Buzbee. “My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,†it reads. “No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!â€

This lawsuit comes at the same time as criminal charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering have been brought against Combs by federal prosecutors in New York. Combs is currently being held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. Just before Thanksgiving, he was denied bail a third time. Diddy’s criminal trial is scheduled for May 5.

Jay-Z Accused of Sexual Assault in Refiled Diddy Lawsuit