Jay-Z and his legal team are doubling down on their efforts to get the rape lawsuit against him dismissed.
Source: Kara Durrette / Getty
The Roc Nation founder is continuing with his demand for sanctions against attorney Tony Buzbee, filing another court motion that calls for the dismissal of the lawsuit against him. He also wants Buzbee to be held accountable for what he claims is a baseless smear campaign to damage his reputation.
According to AllHipHop, in his latest filing, Jay-Zs legal team, led by Alex Spiro, argues that Buzbee has continued pushing a case that is riddled with inconsistencies.
Jane Doe’s lawsuit revolved around an incident she says happened in September 2000, when she was 13 years old. In the suit, Doe claims she was lured to an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards, drugged, and raped by both Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently facing multiple other lawsuits.
According to her complaint, Doe traveled to New York City with a friend, and after watching the VMAs from outside on a Jumbotron, she was approached by a limousine driver who invited her to an afterparty celebrities would be attending. Once she made it to the mansion, she alleges that Combs and Jay-Z entered the room, with Combs telling her, “You are ready to party,” before both men held her down and raped her.
Though the Roc Nation founder has already vehemently denied these claims, his latest argument centers around a contradiction from Jane Doe’s own father. Following her suit, he told NBC News he has no recollection of making the supposed 10-hour drive to pick up his daughter after the alleged assaultâ. This came after Doe claimed her father made an emergency five-hour drive from Rochester, New York, to pick her up at a gas station after the alleged assault.
In his interview, Doe’s father denied the event, telling the network: “I feel like I would remember that, and I don’t.”
Because of this, Jay-Z’s attorneys are arguing that this key discrepancy is one of many red flags in the lawsuit. His legal team is also pointing out that Buzbee admitted he never personally interviewed Jane Doe before attaching his name to the lawsuit, even though the lawyer previously claimed his firm conducted a rigorous investigation before filing.
His attorneys argue that even if Buzbee initially believed the claims, he had a duty to withdraw the case once the inconsistencies became clear. Jay-Z’s legal team is seeking sanctions for failing to certify that the claims Jane Doe alleges have factual support.