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The woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 has recanted her allegations against the music mogul.
In a filing Thursday from lawyers representing Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, the former accuser said that her allegations against the rapper were “false,” adding that she “never met 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.”
In the filing, she added that she falsely claimed that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs raped her while watched by another celebrity, whose name is redacted.
The filing is part of Jay-Z’s ongoing malicious prosecution lawsuit against the woman’s former attorney, Tony Buzbee, which was filed in February 2025 in New York. Carter’s lawyers said this week they were dropping the woman, known as Jane Doe, from the suit.
Buzbee, Doe and representatives for Jay-Z and Combs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Combs is serving a sentence in federal prison after he was convicted in July 2025 of prostitution-related crimes, in a separate case.
The woman came forward in December 2024, in a civil lawsuit filed by Buzbee, accusing Jay-Z and Combs of raping her at a house party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, which were held in New York. Days after the suit was filed, she sat down with NBC News for an interview and doubled down on her claims. But after NBC News pointed out inconsistencies in her account, she said in a subsequent phone interview that she had “made some mistakes.”
At the time, Combs’ attorneys described the suit as a “shameful money grab,” while Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro called it a “frivolous case.”
In February 2025, Doe dropped her lawsuit with prejudice, meaning she couldn’t file it again.
In this week’s filing, Doe writes: “I understand that my false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone. I sincerely and unconditionally apologize to Mr. Carter for the devastating harm I have caused to him, his family and his reputation.”
She also said in the filing that Buzbee and his team paid her $1,000 before she sat down for NBC News’ interview.
In a separate suit, Jay-Z initially sued Buzbee in 2024 in California, accusing Buzbee of extortion and defamation. It was dismissed in June 2025, and the California Court of Appeals affirmed that decision earlier this month. Representatives for Buzbee and his law firm called the appeals court’s ruling “a complete vindication for our clients.”
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Jay-Z rape accuser says her allegation was false
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A woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 has formally said her allegation was untrue.
The unnamed woman filed a lawsuit in 2024 claiming she had been drugged and raped by Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, and Sean "Diddy" Combs at a party after the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.
The stars denied the allegation and she dropped the lawsuit last year. Carter then sued her and her lawyers.
In a statement filed in that case on Thursday, she wrote: "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."
The woman, known in court documents by the pseudonym Jane Doe, also said: "My claims that Mr Carter and Mr Combs raped me while a third celebrity, [name redacted] watched are false. There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr Carter.
"I understand my false accusations have caused Mr Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone."
Jay-Z and family's 'trauma'
Carter had vehemently denied the accusations, saying they were a "blackmail attempt" and describing them as "frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations".
When the accuser dropped her case in February 2025, the rapper, who is married to singer Beyoncé, said: "The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed."
The woman, from Alabama, has now been removed from Carter's lawsuit.
She said she had not received any money from the rap superstar or anyone acting on his behalf, and had not been paid to make her latest declaration.
The rapper is still suing the woman's former lawyers, led by Tony Buzbee.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, external, which first reported Jane Doe's new declaration, Buzbee said he had not seen it.
He said: "We have multiple lawyers (at least four) who dealt with Ms Doe long before she met me. She gave the exact same story to each. If for some reason now she is claiming she lied to us and the court, that's new information."
When Carter filed his lawsuit against the woman and her lawyers in February 2025, Buzbee claimed at the time that Carter's investigators had "repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks, trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story".
In her new declaration, the woman said: "I never received any threat from Mr Carter or anyone acting on his behalf."
'No due diligence'
Setting out the events that led to her allegation, the woman said she saw an advert on Facebook in September or October 2024 looking for people who might have sexual assault claims against Combs. "The ad triggered memories of being raped when I was 13 years old," she said.
She was contacted by a law firm but was not provided with a draft of the lawsuit containing her allegations and did not authorise it before it was filed in October 2024, she said.
She also said Buzbee and other lawyers acting on her behalf filed it "without conducting any independent investigation, background inquiry, or due diligence, and without obtaining any corroboration of the allegations".
She said: "The October Complaint alleges that Mr Carter and Mr Combs raped me when I was a minor while an unnamed celebrity watched. As discussed above, these allegations were false."
Buzbee also represents numerous other people who have made allegations against Combs.
Combs denied Jane Doe's claims, which his lawyer described at the time as one of a number of civil cases "pushed forward by an attorney more focused on media headlines than legal merit".
The BBC has contacted Buzbee for comment.
In July 2025, Combs was convicted by a criminal court on prostitution-related charges involving his two ex-girlfriends, and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence.
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