Jay-Z has filed a sweeping Third Amended Complaint against attorney Tony Buzbee, his law firm, attorney David Fortney, Antigone Curis, Curis Law and Jane Doe, dramatically expanding his allegations that the defendants orchestrated an extortion campaign built around what he says were knowingly false sexual assault accusations.
According to the the complaint obtained by World Music Views, filed in the Southern District of New York, it alleges that the defendants “knowingly sought to exploit—and attempted to profit from—the extreme reputational harm” caused by accusations that Jay-Z r**ed a 13-year-old girl after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. According to the filing, their objective “was clear: to extract an eight-figure settlement from Carter based on allegations they knew to be false.”
The rapper, whose legal name is Shawn Corey Carter, claims the defendants “deliberately misused and corrupted” the judicial system for “unlawful and extortionate ends.”
Alleged pressure campaign
According to the complaint, Jay-Z refused to settle after receiving a November 2024 demand letter in which Jane Doe allegedly sought “something of substance.” The lawsuit argues that the message was unmistakable: “unless Carter caved to Buzbee’s extortionate demands, Defendants would publicly accuse him in federal court of child r***.”
After Carter refused, the defendants allegedly amended their original complaint on Dec. 8, 2024, publicly identifying him as the previously unnamed “Celebrity A.”
The filing claims the timing was deliberate, noting that the amended complaint was filed on the eve of the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King, which featured the acting debut of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
“Instead, on the eve of what should have been a proud and celebratory moment for the entire family, Defendants ensured that Carter and his family would walk into an international media firestorm fueled by accusations that Defendants knew were categorically false.”
Mass recruitment allegations
One of the most significant additions to the amended complaint centers on Buzbee’s alleged partnership with legal marketing company Reciprocity Industries and AVA Law Group following Sean “Diddy” Combs’ September 2024 arrest.
The lawsuit alleges that Buzbee, AVA Law and Reciprocity launched a nationwide advertising campaign across Facebook and Instagram to solicit potential plaintiffs.
According to the filing, advertisements urged viewers to “find your voice” and invited people to “see if you qualify.” The campaign also promoted a hotline encouraging callers to report alleged abuse involving Combs and other celebrities.
The complaint states that approximately 26,000 people responded to the campaign and that the leads were processed by about 70 employees working from scripted questionnaires.
“Just days after Sean Combs’s arrest in 2024, Buzbee partnered with Andrew Van Arsdale, his law firm AVA Law Group, and his legal-marketing company Reciprocity Industries,” the complaint states.
Jay-Z alleges that before any meaningful investigations could have been completed, Buzbee began publicly promising lawsuits against unnamed “powerful people.”
The complaint notes that by Oct. 1, 2024, Buzbee had announced he represented 120 “vetted” and “corroborated” victims and warned that “many powerful people will be exposed.”
The filing argues that those claims were “preposterous on their face” because there was “no way a legitimate pre-suit investigation of that magnitude could have been conducted in that abbreviated timeframe.”
Claims of fabricated allegations
The complaint further alleges that publicly available evidence contradicted Jane Doe’s account.
Among the alleged inconsistencies, Carter points to claims that the alleged assault took place at a large white house near Radio City Music Hall, despite the complaint stating that no such property exists in the area. The filing also alleges that Benji Madden, whom Doe claimed to have met that night, was performing in Chicago at the time.
The lawsuit alleges that the underlying case ultimately unraveled and was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice after 68 days.
The complaint also references a recorded interview conducted one week after the dismissal in which Doe allegedly recanted.
According to the filing, Doe admitted that Carter “didn’t sexually assault” her and claimed that “Buzbee brought Jay-Z into it.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Doe stated Buzbee was the person who “pushed” her to move forward with the accusations.
New allegations against co-defendants
The Third Amended Complaint also expands its allegations against attorney Antigone Curis and her law firm, asserting that Curis allowed attorneys who were not admitted to practice in the Southern District of New York to use her electronic filing credentials.
The complaint alleges that Curis “conspired with the Buzbee Defendants to extort Carter by, among other things, allowing the Buzbee Defendants, who were not authorized to practice law in the Southern District of New York, to use her electronic filing credentials.”
It also claims that neither Curis nor her law firm properly vetted Jane Doe’s allegations before filing suit.
Carter: “Pay or fight”
In the complaint’s concluding allegations, Jay-Z describes the lawsuit as the culmination of his decision to fight rather than settle.
“Defendants’ conduct … left Carter with two choices: pay or fight,” the filing states. “He could have paid the Defendants, which would have kept all of this out of the worldwide media … But that was not an option for Carter, as he would not yield to extortionists.”
“This action is the culmination of that fight,” the complaint concludes, “and it is brought not only to redress the harm to Carter, but to bring an end to Buzbee’s and his co-counsel’s malevolent efforts to extort a payday.”
The allegations contained in Carter’s Third Amended Complaint are claims made in court filings and have not been proven in court. Attorneys for the defendants have previously denied wrongdoing.
