{"id":38466,"date":"2025-07-01T15:40:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/jay-zs-extortion-defamation-lawsuit-against-tony-buzbee-dismissed\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:40:15","slug":"jay-zs-extortion-defamation-lawsuit-against-tony-buzbee-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/jay-zs-extortion-defamation-lawsuit-against-tony-buzbee-dismissed\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay-Z\u2019s Extortion, Defamation Lawsuit Against Tony Buzbee Dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tA California judge reversed course again Monday and fully dismissed Jay-Z<\/a>\u2019s extortion and defamation case<\/a> against Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a 65-page ruling, Los Angeles County Judge Mark Epstein said he was not \u201cwholly satisfied\u201d with his decision, but he tried to balance the competing interests at play and would wait for the Court of Appeal to step in to determine whether he was \u201cright or wrong.\u201d He ended his ruling with the phrase, \u201cstay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, sued Buzbee last year with claims the high-profile Houston attorney knew he was peddling lies when he filed a lawsuit\u00a0accusing Carter of being the male celebrity<\/a>\u00a0who raped a 13-year-old girl alongside Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs at a New York party 25 years ago. Carter claims Buzbee sent him two demand letters in early November to squeeze him for money. He claims that weeks later, Buzbee named him as a co-defendant in the Jane Doe\u2019s lawsuit against Combs because he refused to pay up in a secret settlement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is no demand for a particular sum of money, although that is not enough to protect the Letters. The real problem for Carter is that the mediation request is about the sexual abuse allegations underpinning a potential civil case, and nothing else. There are no extraneous allegations as to publicizing other unrelated and unsavory things related to Carter and there are no promises to refrain from going to law enforcement if Carter agrees to mediate and does settle,\u201d Epstein wrote in his long-awaited decision.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhile it is true that the alleged conduct here constitutes criminal activity, defendants fall well short of threatening to go to the police unless Carter pays up,\u201d Epstein said. \u201cSelling silence as to law enforcement for money is extortion, but there is no promise of silence in the criminal context here. And selling silence for money in the civil context is not extortion; it is a settlement with a non-disclosure element.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are surprised and disappointed by this ruling which turns on the misapplication of California law on the admissibility of the investigators\u2019 statements,\u201d Carter\u2019s lawyer, Alex Spiro, tells Rolling Stone<\/em> in a statement.\u00a0\u201cNotably, the Judge expressly states that his decision would have \u2018change[d] dramatically\u2019 if he had admitted the statements into evidence as they would have shown \u2018not only that Carter had nothing to do with any sexual assault on Doe, but that Buzbee knew it\u2026\u2019 and thus \u2018the court would come out the other way on this motion.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat does it say about our justice system if someone can knowingly bring about completely false claims of the most heinous nature imaginable against an innocent individual and get away with it on a technicality?\u201d Spiro adds. \u201cWe plan to appeal this case immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYet another huge win!!\u201d Buzbee wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cJohn Doe\u2019s case against me and The Buzbee Law Firm alleging extortion and defamation was thrown out by the court. As I said when it was filed, the case was completely meritless. We will now seek attorneys\u2019 fees against John Doe for bringing the legally flawed case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a hearing in February<\/a>, Epstein said he was leaning toward only allowing some of Carter\u2019s defamation claims to proceed. Then at a subsequent hearing in March<\/a>, he signaled he had changed his mind and was inclined to let the Roc Nation founder proceed with his extortion claim as well. He said he reconsidered his position based on stunning new evidence collected by private investigators and submitted by Jay-Z\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new evidence was a recorded a conversation between investigators and the Jane Doe on her front porch in Alabama in February. The woman allegedly said, \u201cIt was more Diddy, but Buzbee brought Jay-Z into it.\u201d She appeared to tell the investigators that it was Buzbee who \u201cpushed\u201d her into publicly naming Jay-Z as one of her assailants.<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cIf the evidence can be considered \u2014 and the court believes it can be considered for this motion \u2014 it supports not only the defamation cause of action but also the extortion cause of action,\u201d Judge Mark Epstein wrote in his tentative ruling issued in March. \u201cIf one accepts Doe\u2019s statements to the investigators at face value, then she at least inferentially did not authorize the settlement letter to be sent or even conclude that she was going to sue Carter at the time the [letter was] mailed. Without a present intent to bring a lawsuit, the litigation privilege will fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRolling Stone<\/em> previously obtained a portion of the alleged doorstep discussion<\/a> with the Jane Doe. In the snippet, one of the investigators specifically asked if Doe was saying that Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, was at the afterparty but \u201cdidn\u2019t have anything to do with the any sexual acts towards you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYeah,\u201d Doe replied. The other investigator then asked if it was Buzbee who suggested Jay-Z had a role in the alleged attack following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. \u201cHe was the one that kind of pushed me towards going forward with him, with Jay-Z,\u201d the woman replied.<\/p>\n

\n\tBuzbee\u2019s lawyers fought the admissibility and relevance of the conversation. Carter then submitted the recording to the judge, and he reviewed it before issuing his ruling. He noted that the conversation was \u201cnot as clear as either party would like,\u201d and that Jane Doe now reports she felt intimidated and threatened by the investigators. He said, ultimately, it appeared to the court that Doe\u2019s interest in the interview was to go along with the suggestions the investigators made. \u201cIt was in Doe\u2019s interest to go along with the investigators here because that way she would not be sued for malicious prosecution; it was in Doe\u2019s interest to go along with the investigators here because that would keep her name out of the press,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll of that said, the situation would change, and change dramatically, if the investigators\u2019 declarations as to the conversation with Doe were admissible for the truth of what Doe stated,\u201d Epstein wrote. \u201cIf that were the case, then there would be some evidence not only that Carter had nothing to do with any sexual assault on Doe, but that Buzbee knew it in the sense that (according to Doe) it was Buzbee that kept pressing to get Doe to implicate Carter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Jay-Z\u00a0first sued Buzbee anonymously<\/a>\u00a0in November, he claimed the high-powered Houston attorney was \u201cshamelessly\u201c trying to extort him while representing dozens of plaintiffs with claims against indicted music mogul\u00a0Sean Combs<\/a>. Three weeks later, Buzbee filed the amended complaint naming Carter as the male celebrity who allegedly raped Doe alongside Combs when she was a minor.<\/p>\n

\n\tCarter immediately \u2014 and vehemently \u2014 denied Doe\u2019s allegations and confirmed he was the John Doe who filed the extortion lawsuit. The Jane Doe went on to voluntarily\u00a0dismiss her entire complaint<\/a> against Carter and Combs with prejudice \u2014 meaning it can\u2019t be filed again \u2014 on Feb. 14\u00a0after\u00a0admitting there were inconsistencies in her story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince then, Carter has filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Doe<\/a> in Alabama, claiming she and Buzbee engaged\u00a0in an \u201cevil conspiracy\u201d to extort him with the \u201ccompletely fabricated\u201d and \u201cwildly horrific\u201d rape claim.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a sworn statement, Carter said that he considered Buzbee\u2019s demand letter an \u201cexistential threat.\u201d \u201cI felt that Mr. Buzbee was placing a gun to my head that I either bow to his demands or endure personal and financial ruin. His actions caused me mental anguish about the ticking time bomb and what it would do to me, my family, and my hard-earned reputation,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tCombs, meanwhile, is currently on trial for\u00a0sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted as charged, he faces 15 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n

\n\tCombs has been sued by dozens of plaintiffs alleging sexual misconduct. The music mogul, 55, denies any wrongdoing. \u201cNo matter how many lawsuits are filed, it won\u2019t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex-trafficked anyone \u2014 man or woman, adult or minor,\u201d his lawyers previously told\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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A California judge reversed course again Monday and fully dismissed Jay-Z\u2019s extortion and defamation case against Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee. In a 65-page ruling,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}