Tony Buzbee Challenges Jane Doe’s New Statement Clearing Jay-Z

A new sworn statement clearing Jay-Z of a rape allegation is now being challenged by the lawyer who once represented the woman behind it. Tony Buzbee’s legal team is calling Jane Doe’s latest declaration “bought-and-paid-for,” arguing that Jay-Z secured the reversal by dropping her from his ongoing lawsuit.

According to AllHipHop, Buzbee’s attorney made the accusation in a Sept. 25 letter to U.S. District Judge Dale Ho. The filing argues that Jay-Z did not need Doe’s declaration in order to dismiss his claims against her, yet attached it to the notice anyway. Buzbee’s side characterizes her removal from the case as the benefit she received because of the statement.

Doe says otherwise. In the 12-page declaration filed Sept. 24, she stated that Jay-Z never raped her and that she has never met him. She also said neither the rapper nor his representatives paid her or promised compensation for changing her account. Reuters reported that the declaration was filed as Jay-Z moved to dismiss her from his malicious-prosecution case.

Buzbee’s attorneys are asking Ho to strike the declaration from the record. If the judge allows it to remain, they want the court to also consider earlier sworn statements in which Doe continued to stand by her allegation after withdrawing her original lawsuit in February 2025.

Those accounts now conflict sharply. Doe previously accused Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards when she was 13. She later dismissed that lawsuit with prejudice. In her newest declaration, she says the accusation against Jay-Z was false and that she began doubting parts of her story before withdrawing the case.

Jay-Z has denied the allegation from the beginning and later sued Doe, Buzbee, and attorney David Fortney, accusing them of pursuing claims they knew were false. Buzbee has denied wrongdoing. Earlier this month, AllHipHop reported that a California appeals court upheld the dismissal of separate claims Jay-Z brought against Buzbee there. That ruling did not determine whether Doe’s original allegation was true. The New York case against Buzbee and Fortney remains active.