Woman Who Accused Jay-Z Of Sexual Assault Recants ‘False’ Allegations, Lawyers Say

The woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 — which happened in 2024, during the time a multitude of sexual assault allegations were leveled at Sean “Diddy” Combs — has recanted her allegations against the rapper and music mogul, saying those allegations were “false.”

According to NBC News, lawyers representing Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, said his accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, has not only admitted her allegations were “false,” but she said she “never met Mr. Carter,” who she reportedly said “never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever.”

“There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter,” she added, according to a filing in Jay-Z’s ongoing malicious prosecution lawsuit against the woman’s former attorney, Tony Buzbee, who also represented many of Diddy’s accusers. “I understand my false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone.”

The lawsuit was initially filed in February 2025 in New York. The attorneys said this week they are now dropping Jane Doe from it.

From NBC:

The woman came forward in December 2024, in a civil lawsuit filed by Buzbee, accusing Carter and Combs of raping her at a house party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, which were held in New York. Days after the suit was filed, she sat down with NBC News for an interview and doubled down on her claims. But after NBC News pointed out inconsistencies in her account, she said in a subsequent phone interview that she had “made some mistakes.”

At the time, Combs’ attorneys described the suit as a “shameful money grab” while Carter’s lawyer Alex Spiro called it a “frivolous case.”

According to Rolling Stone, Jane Doe also said in the filing that she didn’t receive anything in return for accusing Jay-Z of sexual assault, nor was she promised any compensation. Furthermore, her own legal team maintains that she was, indeed, a victim of sexual assault, just not at the hands of Jay-Z.

“Our client maintains that she was a victim of sexual assault, but she was entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter, and those allegations were false,” James Blair Newman Jr., her new lawyer in the malicious prosecution case, said in a statement. “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.”

Unlike Diddy, who is still in federal prison after being sentenced to more than four years for a July 2025 conviction on prostitution-related crimes, Jay-Z was never charged with a crime related to the allegations.

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