Jay-Z has been dealt a legal blow in a case filed by a woman who accused him and fellow music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her as a teen.
Judge Analisa Torres ruled on Thursday that the Alabama woman, who is identified in her lawsuit as Jane Doe, can remain anonymous in the proceeding, according to court records reviewed by USA TODAY.
Torres, who notes the ruling may be revisited as the case progresses, cited various details of sensitivity in the woman’s lawsuit, including Doe’s allegation of sexual abuse, her purported mental health struggles and the risk of being threatened by Combs for speaking out against him.
Earlier this month, an attorney for Jay-Z asked the court to require Doe to reveal her identity.
“Mr. Carter deserves to know the identity of the person who is effectively accusing him — in sensationalized, publicity-hunting fashion — of criminal conduct, demanding massive financial compensation, and tarnishing a reputation earned over decades,” the Dec. 9 filing read.
The woman, who sued Combs in October alleging he drugged and raped her when she was 13 at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party, amended her lawsuit on Dec. 8 to name Jay-Z as the other male celebrity who sexually assaulted her.
In a statement at the time, Jay-Z slammed the legal complaint as a “blackmail attempt” by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee. Buzbee’s law firm later sued Jay-Z’s entertainment company Roc Nation, as well as his legal team, for allegedly offering a former client money in exchange for suing Buzbee’s firm.
Jay-Z’s request to strike Jane Doe’s lawsuit denied by judge
Judge Torres’ Thursday ruling also included a denial of Jay-Z’s previous request to reject Doe’s claim against him.
In a memorandum of law filed Dec. 18, the rapper’s attorneys asked the judge to dismiss him from the woman’s amended complaint and strike it in its entirety, citing an NBC News interview in which Doe acknowledged she had “made some mistakes” in her recollection of the alleged assault.
“Those allegations are baseless and fatally contradicted by Plaintiff’s and her father’s statements to NBC,” Jay-Z’s lawyers said in the memorandum. “The salacious allegations against Mr. Carter serve no purpose other than to harass him and to pressure him to settle a lawsuit based on false claims.”
The filing also sought to preserve evidence in the case because attorneys claimed there was a “significant risk that Buzbee will seek to destroy documents or other evidence that would demonstrate that he knew or should have known that the allegations in the complaint were false.”
Despite recanting certain details of her claims, Doe told NBC that she stood by her allegations. Jay-Z again pushed back on the woman’s accusation in a statement released after the interview’s publication.
“Today’s investigative report proves this ‘attorney’ Buzbee filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame,” Jay-Z said. “This incident didn’t happen and yet he filed it in court and doubled down in the press. True Justice is coming.”
