The woman who brought accusations of sexual assault against Jay-Z is now fully recanting her allegations. In a new court document filed in a Manhattan federal court, the Jane Doe said her claims were false and she never met Jay-Z, legally known as Shawn Carter.
“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 wrote in her declaration, obtained by Rolling Stone. “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.”
James Blair Newman, Jr., the woman’s lawyer, said his client actually was a victim of sexual assault, but “she was entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter.”
“Mr. Carter did not rape her, sexually assault her, engage in any inappropriate conduct towards her, and she has never met him. She sincerely and unconditionally apologizes to Mr. Carter and his family,” the lawyer said, per Rolling Stone.
What did Jay-Z say in his lawsuit against Jane Doe and her attorney?
Carter first sued the woman and her lawyers in federal court after they appeared to make accusations against him when they filed a separate complaint against Sean “Diddy” Combs. In their 2024 lawsuit, the woman and her reps said Diddy raped Jane Doe when she was 13 and she was also assaulted by an unidentified “male celebrity.”
Jay-Z later said he refused to pay Jane Doe despite an “extortionate demand letter” he received from the woman’s attorney, Tony Buzbee. The attorney then revealed Jay-Z as the unidentified celebrity mentioned in Jane Doe’s complaint, the artist’s lawsuit states.
“I 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,” Carter wrote in a sworn declaration as he sued Buzbee for extortion in a California court.
A short time later, Jane Doe voluntarily dismissed her complaints against Carter and Combs, admitting her stories were inconsistent. Carter’s extortion lawsuit was also dismissed by a judge in the following months and recently upheld by an appeals court.
“The record contains no evidence Buzbee accused Carter of raping Jane Doe while knowing those statements to be false or with reckless disregard as to whether they were true. To the contrary, Buzbee submitted declarations showing his firm’s and [a referral firm’s] investigations led him to subjectively believe in the truth of the accusations,” the California court wrote earlier this month.
Why did Jane Doe have doubts about her lawsuit against Jay-Z?
In her latest declaration, Jane Doe said she first initiated her legal case after seeing a Facebook ad which urged survivors to come forward if they have claims against Diddy. Per Rolling Stone, Jane Doe said the ad triggered memories of how she was raped when she was 13 years old, so she responded to the ad and made contact with people who asked her for more information. Jane Doe shared her story with the respondents, talking about how she was abused at a New York City afterparty following the Teen Choice Awards in 2000. In her lawsuit, however, the woman said it was an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards.
Jane Doe then began to doubt her own story.
“In January 2025, I began to doubt my claims against Mr. Carter. I also began doubting that I ever went to a party with celebrities,” she wrote, per Rolling Stone.
The woman’s lawyers proceeded to dismiss her lawsuit as it became evident that she was having doubts about her case.