*A Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit Jay-Z filed against attorney Tony Buzbee, citing First Amendment protections.
According to Courthouse News Service, the ruling ends a contentious legal battle rooted in the ongoing Sean Combs scandal, where the Bad Boy Records founder faces federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and prostitution-related crimes. Buzbee, representing numerous accusers suing Combs, became embroiled with Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) after sending two demand letters in November 2024, alleging the rapper raped two minors decades ago.
The letters offered JAY-Z a choice: participate in confidential mediation to provide “something of substance” to the alleged victims or face a lawsuit. The hip-hop star rejected mediation, and one accuser filed a federal lawsuit in New York, claiming Jay and Combs assaulted her as a minor at a 2000 MTV Video Music Awards afterparty. She later dropped the case. Jigga responded by suing Buzbee for extortion over the letters and defamation based on media interviews and a “liked” social media post on X implying Jay’s involvement in Combs’ “freak off” parties.
Judge Mark Epstein granted Buzbee’s anti-SLAPP motion, dismissing the lawsuit and ruling that the demand letters did not constitute extortion, stating, “The mediation request is about the sexual abuse allegations underpinning a potential civil case, and nothing else.” He clarified, “Selling silence as to law enforcement for money is extortion, but there is no promise of silence in the criminal context here.”
On defamation, Epstein found most of Buzbee’s statements too vague to target Jay-Z specifically, noting, “Those statements did not identify a celebrity of Carter’s stature.” For statements naming Jay, Epstein concluded Buzbee didn’t act with “actual malice,” the legal threshold for defamation.
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Evidence from private investigators, suggesting one accuser admitted Jay-z didn’t assault her, was deemed inadmissible hearsay. Epstein noted the accuser’s context, saying, “Doe’s interest in the interview was to go along with the suggestions the investigators made.”
Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, plans to appeal, while Buzbee called the ruling “thoughtful and well-reasoned,” adding, “Sending a demand letter for an alleged victim isn’t extortion, period.”
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