Jay-Z will seek dismissal of sexual assault lawsuit his lawyer calls a ‘sham’

NEW YORK – Lawyers for Jay-Z plan to ask a judge to toss a lawsuit accusing the American rapper of raping a 13-year-old in 2000, pointing to what they described as “glaring inconsistencies” that emerged in an NBC interview of the accuser, who was not named in the suit.

In the lawsuit, which was filed last week, the unnamed accuser said she had been raped by Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) and American rapper Sean Combs at a party at a private residence after the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City in 2000. Carter, 55, strongly denied the allegation.

NBC News published an interview with the accuser on Dec 13 in which she acknowledged inconsistencies in her account, but maintained that her allegation of assault was true.

The woman’s lawsuit claimed that after the encounter, she was picked up by her father, whom she called from a petrol station.

But NBC reported that her father, who would have had to drive hours from his home in upstate New York to pick up his daughter following the after-party, did not recall having done so. The father was also unnamed in the report.

The plaintiff, who now lives in Alabama, also told NBC that she had spoken to American musician Benji Madden, a member of American rock band Good Charlotte, at the party after the awards that night. But Madden, who was not accused of any wrongdoing in her suit, was on tour in mid-western United States at the time.

Mr Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Carter, wrote a letter on Dec 13 to US District Court Judge Analisa Torres, saying Carter intends to file a motion to strike out the complaint, citing the NBC report.

“The interview outs plaintiff’s allegations for what they are: A sham,” he wrote in the letter.

On Dec 16, Mr Spiro spoke to reporters at the Manhattan offices of Roc Nation, Carter’s entertainment empire.

He provided a timeline of the night in question that he said undercut the plaintiff’s account, and displayed a photo that he said showed Carter at a nightclub after the Video Music Awards, not a private residence.

“The story doesn’t work,” he said. “It doesn’t check out.”

Mr Tony Buzbee, the lawyer for the woman who sued, wrote in an e-mail that his client remained adamant about her claim, even as she acknowledged that she may have been mistaken about which celebrity she encountered at the party that night.

“We are talking about events from 20 years ago,” he said in an e-mail. He said he did not think the photograph of Carter at a nightclub proves or disproves anything.

“Courts exist to resolve factual disputes,” he said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to do so in a news article.”

When the plaintiff initially filed the suit in October, Combs was the main defendant, and Carter was referred to only as “celebrity A”. Combs, who is facing federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges and more than 30 civil suits, has denied sexually assaulting anyone.

Mr Buzbee, a Houston lawyer, then amended the claim to add Carter, one of the most prominent music industry figures in the US and the husband of American pop star Beyonce, prompting a multifaceted legal dispute.

Before Mr Buzbee filed the amended claim naming Carter, his firm wrote Carter a letter seeking to discuss the plaintiff’s claims. Carter’s lawyers then filed a lawsuit – as an anonymous plaintiff – accusing Mr Buzbee of seeking to extort a financial settlement over false claims.

Then, Mr Buzbee’s firm filed a petition in Texas asking a judge to prevent the law firm representing Carter, Quinn Emanuel, from contacting his employees and their relatives, accusing the firm of harassment. The judge denied the request.

Each side has defended its practices as typical legal procedure.

On Dec 16, Mr Spiro – a well-known lawyer whose celebrity clients have included Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, American actor Alec Baldwin and New York mayor Eric Adams – spoke to the press in an effort to discredit the plaintiff.

In seeking to get the claim thrown out, Mr Spiro, in his letter to the judge, accused Mr Buzbee of violating a federal rule requiring a lawyer to conduct a reasonable inquiry into the facts of their client’s claim before signing their name onto a case.

Mr Buzbee, in an e-mail, defended his firm’s handling of its client’s claim, saying while the case was referred by another law practice, at least three lawyers from his firm interviewed her before filing the amended complaint.

He said a background check was run on her, an investigator was engaged to vet some of the details in her claim, and she signed two affidavits related to her account.

“Our conduct has been beyond reproach and will continue to be,” Mr Buzbee said. NYTIMES