The woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 years old in a recently dismissed lawsuit can reportedly be heard on tape saying her lawyer “pushed” her into suing the rap mogul, per multiple reports.
ABC News and Rolling Stone reported Wednesday, March 11, that they had obtained an excerpt of a recording between the woman — identified only as “Jane Doe” — and private investigators associated with Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter.
“He was the one that kind of pushed me towards going forward with him, with Jay-Z,” the woman allegedly said, referring to her lawyer, Tony Buzbee.
“Buzbee did?” one of the investigators asked.
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“Yeah,” the woman replied.
In a lawsuit filed in December 2024, the woman accused Jay-Z, 55, and disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in 2000. The suit was initially filed in October 2024 with only Diddy, also 55, listed as a defendant. (Doe voluntarily dropped the suit in February with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.)
Buzbee told Rolling Stone in a statement Wednesday that the alleged recording was a “pieced-together fabrication.”
“Her position is very clear and has never changed,” Buzbee told the outlet. “The investigators tormented and harassed and tricked that poor woman and took what she said out of context and secretly recorded her. She stands by her claim that Jay-Z was there at the party and that [he] assaulted her. She has never wavered on that point, not once.”
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Buzbee added in a statement to ABC News, “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.”
Jay-Z’s attorney Alex Spiro told ABC News that “the tape speaks for itself,” insisting that Doe “voluntarily” met with the investigators working for Jay-Z.
“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,” Spiro said.
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However, Buzbee provided Rolling Stone a recording of his own alleged conversation with Doe, in which the outlet reported that Doe denied telling the investigators that Jay-Z did not assault her. She also denied telling them Buzbee pushed her into filing suit against the rapper, per Rolling Stone.
Earlier this month, Jay-Z filed his own lawsuit against Jane Doe and Buzbee, accusing them of abuse of process, malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy and defamation. The suit alleges that Jay-Z’s accuser and Buzbee conspired to falsely accuse him of sexual assault, causing him to lose $20 million.
