Jay-Z Accuser's U-Turn Shifts Focus to Legal Battle With Tony Buzbee

A woman who accused Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 has made a dramatic change to her account, formally telling a US federal court that the rapper never raped her and that she had never met or spoken to him.

The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, made the statement in a 12-page declaration filed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, September 24.

Her latest declaration has shifted attention from the original sexual assault allegations to the continuing legal dispute between Jay-Z and the lawyers who represented her.

In the sworn statement, Doe said: “Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter never raped me. I have never met or spoken to Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever.”

“There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter,” she added.

Doe also said she understood that her previous accusations had caused Carter and his family significant harm.

Why Jay-Z is dropping her from the lawsuit

The new declaration was filed alongside a notice that Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, was voluntarily dismissing Doe as a defendant in his ongoing malicious prosecution case against attorney Tony Buzbee and his Texas-based law firm.

Carter had sued Doe and the lawyers involved in the original case, accusing them of pursuing false allegations and attempting to pressure him into a financial settlement.

With Doe now being removed from that lawsuit, the legal dispute between Carter and Buzbee remains a central part of the case.

Buzbee, however, has disputed Doe's latest account.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Buzbee said several lawyers had dealt with Doe before she met him and that she had given them the same account.

“If for some reason now she is claiming she lied to us and the court, that’s new information,” Buzbee said.

Woman says she began doubting her allegations

Doe's latest declaration provides a different account of how the case developed.

She said she responded to a Facebook advertisement in late September or early October 2024 seeking people with sexual assault allegations involving Sean “Diddy” Combs.

According to her declaration, the advertisement triggered memories of an assault she says happened when she was 13.

She later became involved in legal proceedings against Combs, with Jay-Z eventually being identified as the previously unnamed celebrity in an amended complaint.

However, Doe said she began questioning her allegations against Carter in January 2025.

She also claimed that her original lawsuit had been filed without her knowledge and without what she described as adequate independent investigation or due diligence by her legal team.

Rolling Stone reported that she also said she had disclosed certain mental health conditions to her lawyers before Jay-Z was publicly named in the lawsuit.

Her new lawyer says she was mistaken about Jay-Z

Doe's new attorney, James Blair Newman Jr., said his client still maintains that she experienced a sexual assault but was mistaken in identifying Jay-Z as the person responsible.

“Our client maintains that she was a victim of sexual assault, but she was entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter,” Newman said.

He added that Carter “did not rape her, sexually assault her, engage in any inappropriate conduct towards her, and she has never met him.”

Newman also said Doe had sincerely and unconditionally apologised to Carter and his family.

That distinction is important because the latest declaration specifically clears Jay-Z, while Doe's lawyer says she continues to maintain that she was sexually assaulted by someone.

Tony Buzbee disputes her latest account

Buzbee has challenged parts of Doe's new version of events.

He told Rolling Stone that multiple lawyers had interacted with Doe before he became involved and that she had provided the same account to them.

The lawyer also disputed the suggestion that the case was pursued without the necessary discussions with Doe.

The disagreement means the latest declaration has not ended the broader legal dispute surrounding the case.

Instead, it has introduced a new conflict over how the original allegations were investigated, prepared and presented in court.

How the original Jay-Z lawsuit started

The original lawsuit was filed in October 2024 and initially focused on allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The woman alleged that she had been 13 when she was sexually assaulted at a party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.

An amended complaint later identified Jay-Z as the previously unnamed male celebrity.

Jay-Z strongly denied the allegations.

Doe subsequently voluntarily dismissed the case against Jay-Z and Combs in February 2025.

At that point, however, she had not made the sweeping statement contained in her latest declaration clearing Jay-Z.

Jay-Z's legal battle continues

The latest development does not mean all litigation connected to the matter has ended.

Carter's malicious prosecution case against Buzbee and his firm remains a separate legal dispute.

The case has already produced several rounds of legal arguments over the allegations, the lawyers' conduct and the circumstances under which the original lawsuit was brought.

A California appellate ruling earlier this month also upheld the dismissal of a separate extortion case Carter had brought against Buzbee, according to Rolling Stone. The court found there was no evidence that Buzbee had accused Carter while knowing the allegations were false or with reckless disregard for their truth.

That ruling is separate from Doe's new declaration and should not be presented as a judicial finding that her original allegations were true or false.

What the new declaration means

Doe's latest court filing marks a significant change from the position she had previously taken in the case.

She now says she never met Jay-Z, that he never sexually assaulted her and that her allegations against him were false.

At the same time, Buzbee disputes aspects of her new account and maintains that his team had believed the allegations when the original case was pursued.

The competing accounts leave the handling of the original allegations at the centre of the remaining legal battle.

For Jay-Z, the immediate development is that the woman who made the allegations against him has now formally cleared him in a sworn court declaration, while his legal action against the lawyers involved continues.

Do you want to be published? E-mail info@thedailywhistle.co.ke or WhatsApp 0721930260