Jay-Z’s lawyer highlights ‘glaring red flags’ in rape accuser’s story as tensions rise in fiery war of words
Jay-Z’s lawyer is claiming there are ‘glaring red flags’ in the civil suit that alleges he raped a 13-year-old girl and he is calling for sanctions against the accuser’s lawyer.
Alex Spiro filed a 30-page motion that claimed to unravel inconsistencies in her story and demanded measures be taken against the accuser’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, for causing ‘extraordinary harm’ to the rapper.
But Buzbee fired back in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying Spiro’s filing ‘reeks of desperation’ and is ‘full of lies’.
Texas-based Buzbee, who has filed dozens of lawsuits against Diddy, said: ‘Mr. Spiro and his firm are paid by the hour. So, they file a lot of junk with the court.’
The war of words between the two sides has been raging for weeks over the suit – which was filed in a federal court in New York.
The woman, who is now a 38-year-old mother of two, claimed that the assault happened at a home where she was taken after the VMAs in September 2000.
Jay-Z’s lawyer claimed there’s ‘glaring red flags’ in the civil suit that alleges he raped a 13-year-old girl with Diddy and is calling for sanctions against the accuser’s lawyer Tony Buzbee
The woman, who is now a 38-year-old mother of two, claimed that the assault happened at a home where she was taken after the VMAs – The photo of Jay-Z (in red) was taken at the afterparty at the Lotus Nightclub in New York
That night, Diddy and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were seen arguing in the same nightclub where Jay-Z was partying
She alleged that Diddy, who is awaiting trial on criminal sex trafficking charges, came into the room and said that she was ‘ready to party’ before he and Jay-Z forced themselves upon her.
But in an interview with NBC, the woman admitted that she may have made ‘mistakes’ in identifying who was at the party that night, even if she stood by her story.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has repeatedly strongly denied the woman’s claims and said that the accuser ‘filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame’.
In his filing, Spiro – whose previous clients include Alec Baldwin – outlined a slew of inconsistencies in the woman’s claims, some of which she admitted to in her NBC interview.
These showed that her claims were ‘demonstrably false’ and amounted to ‘glaring red flags’, according to Spiro.
The woman claimed the rape happened at a ‘large white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway’. But Spiro wrote that on the night in question, Diddy was seen at the Lotus nightclub in New York with his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, and at another Manhattan club, Twirl.
Alex Spiro filed a 30-page motion which claimed to unravel the ‘red flags’ in the accuser’ss story and demanded measures be taken against Buzbee, for causing ‘extraordinary harm to Mr Carter’
Texas-based Buzbee, who has filed dozens of lawsuits against Diddy, said: ‘Mr. Spiro and his firm are paid by the hour. So, they file a lot of junk with the court’
Jay-Z has repeatedly and strongly denied the woman’s claims and said that the accuser ‘filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame’
The woman, who was 13 at the time, alleged that Diddy came into the room and said that she was ‘ready to party’ before he and Jay-Z forced themselves upon her
The accuser said she saw musicians Fred Durst and Benji Madden at the after party, but they didn’t attend the VMAs that year, Spiro wrote.
Another inconsistency was that the woman claimed she watched the ceremony on a Jumbotron outside the theater when she couldn’t get in.
But New York City officials had denied MTV’s permit request for one, Spiro writes.
Then there was the woman’s claim that she asked her father to pick her up later that night at a gas station, but the dad told NBC he couldn’t remember doing so.
He was also located five hours north in Rochester, New York, and the VMAs were in Manhattan.
‘Uncovering these serious problems with the claim would not have taken a competent and ethical attorney much time,’ Spiro wrote.
But Buzbee failed to do so, instead claiming that a previous law firm vetted the woman’s story, he added.
That meant that Buzbee’s vetting of the claims he got from Diddy’s accusers was ‘grossly deficient’.
All this means that Buzbee’s ‘deeply unethical behavior that warrants judicial condemnation’, the filing states.
Spiro wrote: ‘Given the horrific nature of the allegations, every day this inadequately vetted complaint remains on the docket causes extraordinary harm to Mr Carter, his family, his businesses and his employees.
‘Attorneys should not be permitted to destroy a person’s reputation by alleging facts without a sufficient investigation or by failing to withdraw those allegations once it is clear that they are false or exceedingly unlikely to be true.’
Spiro called for the complaint to be dismissed immediately and urged the court to impose ‘an appropriate monetary sanction or fee award’ against Buzbee.
Judge Analisa Torres told Spiro last month to tone his language down in his excessive legal filings that he’s submitted and says it’s ‘inappropriate’ and ‘a waste of judicial resources’
Jay-Z notably broke his silence in a lengthy statement where he slammed the allegations and expressed ‘heartbreak’ for his loved ones
Diddy, Beyoncé and Jay-Z enjoy champagne at the Cannes Champagne Party VIP room on May 23, 2008
The filing came after a warning from Analisa Torres, the federal judge overseeing the case, who told Spiro last month to tone his language down in what legal analysts described as a ‘bench slap’.
In a ruling, Judge Torres wrote: ‘(Jay-Z’s) lawyer’s relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client.
‘The Court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.’
In the statement, Buzbee’s office said: ‘Mr. Spiro and his firm are paid by the hour. So, they file a lot of junk with the Court. With each frantic filing, his team reeks of desperation.
‘He and his team think the laws and rules don’t apply to them. They are flat wrong.
‘They also think they can bully or intimidate counsel for victims by filing meritless and frivolous pleadings full of lies and half-truths. Again, they are dead wrong. We won’t be bullied or intimidated, ever.’
Diddy, who is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, has denied all allegations against him.
Jay-Z notably broke his silence in a lengthy statement where he slammed the allegations and expressed ‘heartbreak’ for his loved ones.
The rapper joined his family only hours after he was named in the lawsuit at the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King, in which his daughter Blue Ivy, 13, stars.
