Jay-Z Seeks Dismissal of 2000 Rape Allegation Lawsuit

NEW YORK — Rapper Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is fighting to dismiss a lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl at a 2000 Video Music Awards after-party. In a legal filing Wednesday, Carter asked a federal judge in Manhattan to drop the case and impose monetary sanctions against the plaintiff’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, citing “substantial inaccuracies” in the claims.

The lawsuit, filed in October, alleges Carter and others assaulted the woman, now in her late 30s, at the event. However, Carter’s filing highlights inconsistencies, including the woman’s father telling NBC News he had no memory of picking her up from the party, as described in the lawsuit. “It strains credulity,” the filing states, “that a father—impelled to jump into his car in the middle of the night to undertake a minimum 10-hour round trip to pick up his 13-year-old daughter at a random gas station—would forget the entire episode.”

Buzbee, a Texas attorney, has also been unable to explain why the plaintiff told NBC News she spoke with rapper Benji Madden at the party, describing his distinctive “The Last Supper” tattoo. Madden later confirmed he was touring the Midwest during the VMAs that year. Carter and fellow defendant Sean “Diddy” Combs have both denied the allegations.

“A single, initial media interview turned up glaring problems that counsel had either ignored or never investigated,” Carter’s filing states. The document accuses Buzbee of rushing to file the lawsuit without proper diligence, calling the discrepancies “neither isolated nor surprising.”

Buzbee dismissed Carter’s claims in a statement Wednesday night, saying, “With every frantic filing the defense in this case grows more desperate. The rules apply equally to everyone, even those who wrongly think they are above the law. No one is above the law.”

The lawsuit initially named Combs, his companies, and unnamed accomplices, including “Celebrity A,” later identified as Carter. Since then, Buzbee and Carter have exchanged accusations in public statements and court filings. In December, Buzbee filed a separate lawsuit accusing Carter of attempting to intimidate his law firm and turn plaintiffs against him. “This conduct was specifically targeted at our firm so we would not pursue cases related to the Diddy litigation,” Buzbee said in a statement to Business Insider. “But, we will not be bullied or intimidated.”