Woman Recants Sexual Assault Allegations Against Jay-Z

A woman who accused Sean Jay-Z Carter of sexual assault in a lawsuit has formally recanted her allegations, declaring under penalty of perjury that she never met the music mogul and that her claims were entirely false, according to court documents.

The Recantation and Court Filings in Manhattan Federal Court

The unnamed woman filed a 12-page declaration in Manhattan federal court withdrawing her original claims, stating plainly that the allegations were groundless. Her legal claim originated in late 2024 after she responded to a Facebook advertisement seeking individuals with potential sexual assault claims against Sean Diddy Combs. In her new sworn statement, she admitted that her legal claim started when she responded to that advertisement, which triggered memories of past trauma due to certain mental health conditions she had disclosed to her legal team beforehand.

“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.”

Jane Doe, via Rolling Stone

The woman voluntarily dismissed her entire complaint against Carter and Combs in early 2025 after acknowledging inconsistencies in her story. The recent 12-page declaration was submitted alongside notice that Carter was voluntarily dropping her as a defendant in his ongoing malicious-prosecution lawsuit. Her new lawyer, James Blair Newman Jr., noted that while his client maintains she was a victim of sexual assault, she was entirely mistaken in identifying Carter, and those allegations were false.

Origins of the Legal Battle and the Extortion Lawsuit

The retracted allegations trace back to an initial lawsuit filed in October 2024, which accused Combs of raping the woman when she was 13 years old at a post-MTV awards party in 2000. That initial complaint also pointed to an unnamed male celebrity. In November 2024, Carter received a demand letter from lawyer Tony Buzbee, which Carter described in court filings as an extortionate attempt to force a secret financial settlement under the threat of severe reputational harm.

Jane Doe Who Accused Jay-Z of Sexual Assault Fully Recants: 'No Truth to Any of My Claims' — Photo: Rolling Stone

When Carter refused to pay, the lawsuit was amended in December 2024 to identify him publicly as the previously unnamed celebrity. Carter vehemently denied the claims, calling them a blackmail attempt and maintaining that the accusations relied on an impossible timeline. He filed a preemptive lawsuit in California state court using a John Doe pseudonym, describing the demand letter as feeling like a gun to my head. Although a judge initially dismissed Carter’s California extortion lawsuit—a ruling recently upheld by the Second Appellate District, where Associate Justice Anne Richardson noted that Buzbee’s demand letter was protected because it was sent in anticipation of filing a lawsuit—Carter’s malicious-prosecution case in New York remains active against Buzbee and his Texas-based law firm.

Ongoing Litigation and the Defense Response

While the woman who made the accusations has been dropped from Carter’s New York lawsuit, the music superstar continues his legal action against Buzbee and his co-counsel. Carter argues that the attorneys should have known the claims were contradicted by publicly available information, internally inconsistent, and unsupported by any credible story or investigation. Buzbee and his team recently sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, describing it as a malicious prosecution.

School responds to lawsuit outlining series of sexual assault allegations

Responding to the woman’s newly surfaced declaration, Buzbee stated that his firm had handled the matter carefully before filing. We have multiple lawyers (at least four) who dealt with Ms. Doe long before she met me. She gave the exact same story to each. If for some reason now she is claiming she lied to us and the court, that’s new information, Buzbee remarked.

Carter has consistently spoken out about the severe personal toll exacted by the false claims. Reflecting on the ordeal, he stated that the trauma endured by his wife, children, and loved ones can never be dismissed. Having refused all out-of-court settlement offers, maintaining that settling ain’t in my DNA, Carter continues to pursue accountability in federal court as the malicious-prosecution proceedings move forward.