Jay-Z’s Extortion Lawsuit Against Lawyer Over Child Rape Claim Dismissed By Appeals Court
The rapper vowed to punish the attorney who filed the stunning accusation, but an appeals court now says threat letters did not amount to extortion.
A California appeals court has dismissed Jay-Z's lawsuit against lawyer Tony Buzbee, who had accused the rapper of raping a 13-year-old girl and his friend Sean "Diddy" Combs decades earlier. The appeals court ruled that there was no evidence that Buzbee accused Jay-Z of raping the girl while knowing the statements to be false or with reckless disregard for their truth.
The court also stated that the attorney could not be sued for defamation or extortion, even though he had submitted declarations showing his firm's belief in the truth of the accusations. The rapper strongly denied the allegations and had claimed that Buzbee had fabricated the claims to extort him.
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