Jay-Z Loses Extortion Lawsuit Against Lawyer Over Dismissed Rape Claim And Must Pay Legal Fees

California Appeals Court Rules on Extortion and Defamation Claims

The three-judge appellate panel affirmed a lower court decision by Judge Mark H. Epstein, finding that Jay-Z failed to prove Buzbee acted with actual malice or committed extortion when filing the original claims. According to the court records obtained by Billboard, the panel determined that the record contains no evidence Buzbee accused Carter of raping Jane Doe while knowing those statements to be false or with reckless disregard as to whether they were true. Instead, the court noted that Buzbee submitted declarations showing his firm’s internal investigations led him to subjectively believe in the truth of the accusations. I said when the case was filed it was total bulls–t, Buzbee stated, adding that he is now entitled to my fees and costs and I intend to get every red penny that I spent dealing with it. A spokesman for Jay-Z did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the appellate ruling.

Disputed Evidence and the Inadmissible Audio Recording

A central component of Jay-Z’s legal battle against Buzbee hinged on a recorded interview between private investigators and the anonymous accuser, in which the woman allegedly admitted the allegations were fabricated and that Buzbee had pressured her to lie. However, Judge Epstein previously ruled that the audio tape constituted inadmissible hearsay and refused to admit it into evidence. The Second Appellate District affirmed that ruling on Sept. 9. The appellate panel echoed skepticism regarding the circumstances under which the recording was made, noting that Jane Doe may have felt coerced by the investigators out of fear of public exposure. Coupled with the fact that one of the investigators also told Jane Doe ‘if you cooperate and kind of tell us what’s going on, everything remains a Jane Doe,’ the court reasonably concluded Jane Doe felt she needed to cooperate and help Carter if she wanted to remain anonymous and not be sued, the judges wrote.

Background of the Legal Dispute

The conflict began in December 2024, when Buzbee added Jay-Z to a wave of civil abuse lawsuits targeting Sean Combs, alleging the two men drugged and assaulted a teenager following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. Jay-Z strongly denied the allegations, calling the filing a blackmail attempt and launching a countersuit against Buzbee for extortion. Buzbee voluntarily dropped the rape lawsuit in February 2025, less than three months after initiating it. While the underlying accusations were dismissed, Jay-Z maintained that the damage inflicted by the filing could not be undone. The trauma that my wife, my children, my loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed, the rapper said in a statement issued at the time. Despite the dismissal of the original claims, Jay-Z continued pursuing his separate extortion and defamation lawsuit against Buzbee until the lower court dismissed it last summer, a ruling now solidified by the recent appellate decision.