A civil lawsuit that accused Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a 2000 afterparty was voluntarily dismissed in February 2025. Both men denied the allegations. The case was never decided by a court.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!What the lawsuit alleged
The plaintiff, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, first sued Combs in October 2024. In December 2024 the suit was amended to name Jay-Z. The suit alleged that both men assaulted her after an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in 2000, when she was 13. In the first filing, Jay-Z was referred to as “Celebrity A,” according to CNN as reported by other outlets.
Denial and counter-action
Jay-Z denied the allegations from the start and called the lawsuit a “blackmail attempt.” His lawyers also filed legal action against the plaintiff’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, and asked the court to identify the plaintiff. That request was rejected by a judge.
Dismissal
On February 14, 2025, the plaintiff’s lawyers filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice in federal court in New York. A dismissal with prejudice means the case cannot be refiled in the same form. The filing was signed by Buzbee and Antigone Curis, and reports say both defendants consented to the dismissal.
Jay-Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, said his client would never settle or pay money to resolve the case. Buzbee has said there was an agreement under which Jay-Z would drop his separate defamation action. Jay-Z’s lawyer said there was no settlement agreement, and the dismissal filing does not mention one. The two accounts conflict, and no court has ruled on either.
What has not been decided
No court found that the allegations were true or false. This article reports the lawsuit, its dismissal and the denial, and it does not reach any conclusion about the underlying events.
Correction note: an earlier version of this article had a headline that stated the allegation as fact, and its body was an unrelated story about Beyoncé. The article has been rewritten to report the lawsuit, its dismissal and the denial. The earlier wording has been removed.
Sources
- ABC News via Good Morning America, “Civil case accusing Jay-Z, Diddy of raping 13-year-old girl voluntarily dismissed” (14 February 2025): https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/civil-case-accusing-jay-z-diddy-rape-dismissed-118847148
- Dallas Morning News, “Woman withdraws civil suit against Jay-Z and Sean Combs” (14 February 2025): https://dallasnews.com/news/2025/02/14/woman-withdraws-civil-suit-against-jay-z-sean-diddy-combs-alleging-she-was-raped-at-13
- Soap Central, “Lawsuit accusing Jay-Z of assaulting a minor dropped”: https://www.soapcentral.com/entertainment/news-lawsuit-accusing-jay-z-assaulting-minor-dropped-all-need-know
- Black Enterprise, “Jay-Z’s attorney disputes notion of a deal with Tony Buzbee”: https://blackenterprise.com/jay-zs-attorney-disputes-notion-deal-buzbee