UNITED STATES NEWS

Judge says woman accusing Jay-Z, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of raping her at age 13 can proceed anonymously

Dec 26, 2024, 4:41 PM | Updated: 6:58 pm

FILE - Rap moguls Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, and Jay-Z attend the NBA All-Star basketball game, Feb....

FILE - Rap moguls Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, and Jay-Z attend the NBA All-Star basketball game, Feb. 15, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — An Alabama woman who says she was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 can proceed anonymously, for now, in her lawsuit against the rap moguls, a judge ruled Thursday.

In her written order, Judge Analisa Torres also chastised the lawyer representing Jay-Z for what she described as his combative motions and “inflammatory language” against the plaintiff’s lawyer, calling them inappropriate.

The Manhattan jurist said the woman can proceed anonymously at this early stage of the litigation, but she may be required to reveal her identity at a later date, if the case proceeds. That would allow defense lawyers to collect facts necessary to prepare for trial. Torres also cited “substantial interest” from the public.

Combs remains jailed in New York awaiting a criminal trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He also faces a wave of sexual assault lawsuits, many of which were filed by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, a Texas attorney who says his firm represents over 150 people, both men and women, who allege sexual abuse and exploitation by Combs.

The lawsuits allege many individuals were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida after receiving drug-laced drinks.

Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.” Jay-Z has said in a statement that Buzbee is trying to blackmail him to settle the Alabama woman’s allegations.

Buzbee said in an email that his firm does not comment on court rulings.

In her lawsuit, the woman who says she was raped at 13 identifies herself as “Jane Doe.” She said she was living in Rochester in 2000 when she made her way to New York City and befriended a limousine driver who drove her to an after-party for the MTV Music Awards, where she says she was eventually attacked by Jay-Z and Combs.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Jay-Z, asked the judge to dismiss the entertainer from the woman’s lawsuit and he requested a hearing on the case for the day after he made his requests in writing on Dec. 18.

Citing an interview the plaintiff did on NBC-TV, Spiro wrote that the broadcast revealed “glaring inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in the plaintiff’s story. For one thing, the woman said she traveled for five hours from Rochester to watch the music awards show on a jumbotron outside the VMA even though permits and pictures show there was no jumbotron at the event.

Spiro also noted that the woman’s father has said he does not recall driving from Rochester to pick his daughter up in New York City, as she says he did.

The woman has admitted inconsistencies in her story.

Torres wrote in her order Thursday that Spiro, who has been on the case less than three weeks, has submitted a “litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff’s lawyer, many of them expounding on the purported ‘urgency’ of this case.”

Referring to Jay-Z by his legal last name, the judge added: “Carter’s lawyer’s relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client. The Court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.”

A message seeking comment from Spiro was left for him on Thursday.

United States News

FILE - The U.S. Department of the Treasury building is seen in Washington, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo...

Associated Press

Russian cybercrime network targeted for sanctions across US, UK and Australia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S., U.K. and Australia on Tuesday sanctioned a Russian web-hosting services provider and two Russian men who administer the service in support of Russian ransomware syndicate LockBit. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and its U.K. and Australian counterparts sanctioned Zservers, a Russia-based bulletproof hosting services provider — which […]

9 minutes ago

Associated Press

Trump ally Steve Bannon pleads guilty and avoids jail time in border wall fraud case

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Bannon pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a fraud charge related to duping donors who gave money to a private effort to build a wall along the U.S. southern border — a case the conservative strategist has decried as a “political persecution.” Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, reached […]

24 minutes ago

Associated Press

Massachusetts top court rules Karen Read can be retried in her boyfriend’s death

BOSTON (AP) — The state’s top court ruled Tuesday that Karen Read can be retried on all the same charges in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend. Prosecutors have sought to retry Read this year on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crime. They accused her of ramming […]

36 minutes ago

A childhood photo of Samira Zoobi, a 28-year-old who died in Hurricane Helene, was returned to thei...

Associated Press

How photos lost in American disasters find their way home, with a little help from people who care

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollowed-out homes. Cars entombed by mud. Unpeopled roads. Belongings reduced to dirt and debris. It all took a toll on Taylor Schenker. After Hurricane Helene last September, Schenker was upset by the deluge of images of Asheville, North Carolina. “This storm has taken so much,” she said, “and it’s so jarring […]

1 hour ago

Fatima Guzman prays during a church service at the Centro Cristiano El Pan de Vida, a mid-size Chur...

Associated Press

27 religious groups sue Trump administration to protect houses of worship from immigration arrests

More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship. The lawsuit, […]

2 hours ago

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the...

Associated Press

The Latest: Trump to host Jordan’s King as he escalates pressure on his Gaza resettlement plan

President Donald Trump will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East. Meanwhile, Pope Francis issued a major rebuke to the Trump administration’s […]

3 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Collins Comfort Masters

Collins Comfort Masters: Your go-to plumbing experts in Arizona

Collins Comfort Masters, a trusted name in HVAC, water and plumbing since 1985, is you go-to plumbers for the residents of Phoenix and the Valley.

...

Bright Wealth Management

How IRAs are a helpful tool in retirement planning

When it comes to retirement planning, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) can be a great tool for income growth.

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Why a Heating Tune-Up is Essential Before Winter

PHOENIX, AZ — With cooler weather on the horizon, making sure your heating system is prepped and ready can make all the difference in staying comfortable this winter.

Judge says woman accusing Jay-Z, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of raping her at age 13 can proceed anonymously