Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, filed court paperwork Monday asking a judge to require his rape accuser, who is only identified as “Jane Doe,” to reveal her identity if she wants to continue the lawsuit.
Spiro said the woman hasn’t provided any evidence to justify her anonymity and that her “vague assertions of potential harm fall far short of the stringent requirements” under the law.
The woman who previously sued Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging she was raped at an awards show after-party in 2000 when she was 13, amended the lawsuit Sunday to include a new allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault.
Spiro asked for an urgent hearing on the matter.
“Mr. Carter deserves to know the identity of the person who is effectively accusing him — in sensationalized, publicity-hunting fashion — of criminal conduct, demanding massive financial compensation, and tarnishing a reputation earned over decades,” Spiro wrote. “He has never been accused of, let alone engaged in, any sexual misconduct.”
The 24-time Grammy award-winning rapper, producer and music mogul, whose real name is Shawn Carter, called the allegations “idiotic” and “heinous in nature” in a statement released by Roc Nation, one of his companies.
He also revealed that he had anonymously sued the woman’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, last month, alleging he was trying to blackmail the rapper by threatening to make the rape allegation public if he didn’t agree to a legal settlement. He said Buzbee sent a letter to his lawyer appearing to seek a settlement but that the letter had the “opposite effect” on him.
“It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion,” Jay-Z’s statement read. “So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!”
The litigation is part of a wave of sexual assault lawsuits levied against Combs as the hip-hop mogul remains in custody in New York awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Buzbee, a personal injury lawyer in Houston, said the notion that he was trying to blackmail Jay-Z is “stupid and laughable,” and that his letter simply sought confidential mediation in the litigation.
“What he fails to say in his recent statement is that my firm sent his lawyer a basic demand letter on behalf of an alleged victim and that victim never demanded a penny from him,” he said in an emailed statement. “Since I sent the letter on her behalf, Mr. Carter has not only sued me, but he has tried to bully and harass me and this plaintiff. His conduct has had the opposite impact. She is emboldened. I’m very proud of her resolve.”
