A woman who accused music mogul Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 has formally withdrawn her allegations, telling a US federal court that her claims against the rapper were false and that she had never met or spoken to him.
The woman, who has remained anonymous in court filings and is identified as Jane Doe, made the dramatic admission in a declaration filed in Manhattan federal court in September 2026.
According to the declaration, she stated that Jay-Z never sexually assaulted her, never behaved inappropriately toward her and that there was “no truth” to the claims she previously made against him.
She also apologised to the rapper, his family and his reputation, acknowledging the damage caused by the accusations.
The development marks a major turn in a case that began in late 2024 and attracted international attention because of the high-profile names involved.
How the Jay-Z allegations began
The woman initially filed a lawsuit alleging that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs had sexually assaulted her following an after-party connected to the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
She claimed she was 13 at the time of the alleged incident.
Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, strongly denied the allegations from the beginning.
His lawyers also challenged several details contained in the woman’s account, including aspects of the timeline and circumstances surrounding the alleged event.
The lawsuit was later voluntarily dismissed with prejudice in February 2025.
That legal terminology meant the same claim could not simply be brought again. At the time, Jay-Z described the dismissal as a victory after repeatedly denying the allegations.
Woman blames lawyers for handling of case
In her latest declaration, the woman made a series of allegations concerning the lawyers who initially represented her.
She claimed her attorneys failed to properly verify her account before filing the case and alleged that members of the legal team paid for flights, accommodation, meals and clothing connected to a television interview.
She further alleged that she was coached on what to say and how to behave during the interview and claimed she was given $1,000 in cash.
The woman also stated that Jay-Z or people acting on his behalf never threatened her and that she was never offered money by the rapper’s team.
Her declaration reportedly describes how she became involved with the legal process after responding to an advertisement seeking people who believed they had sexual assault claims involving Combs.
She said the experience eventually led to her being connected with lawyers who pursued the case.
Her current lawyer offers another explanation
Despite the woman’s withdrawal of the allegations against Jay-Z, her current lawyer, James Blair Newman Jr., has maintained that she was a victim of sexual assault but was mistaken when identifying Carter as the person responsible.
Newman said his client was “entirely mistaken” in identifying Jay-Z and reiterated that Carter never assaulted or behaved inappropriately toward her.
The lawyer also said she had offered an unconditional apology to Jay-Z and his family.
That distinction is important because the latest declaration specifically concerns the allegations against Carter; it does not establish that every allegation the woman has made about sexual assault was false.
Tony Buzbee disputes her account
Attorney Tony Buzbee, who represented the woman during the original case, has disputed her characterization of how the allegations were investigated.
Buzbee has said that the woman gave substantially the same account to four lawyers before he personally became involved in the matter.
He also said his firm hired a former major-crimes detective to investigate and vet the allegations before proceeding.
Those claims contrast sharply with the woman’s current assertion that her allegations were not properly investigated before the lawsuit was filed.
The dispute between Jay-Z and Buzbee has continued even after the original sexual-assault lawsuit was dropped.
Jay-Z drops woman from his legal case
Following the woman’s recantation, Jay-Z’s legal team moved to dismiss her as a defendant in his separate legal action.
His remaining legal battle is focused on Buzbee and his law firm.
The latest development comes shortly after a California appeals court upheld the dismissal of another case in which Carter had accused Buzbee of extortion and defamation.
The court’s September 2026 ruling left Carter pursuing a separate case in New York connected to the fallout from the original allegations.
Jay-Z’s legal battle attracted major attention
The allegations emerged during a period when Sean Combs was facing extensive legal scrutiny over separate allegations and federal criminal proceedings.
Combs was later convicted on two federal counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and sentenced to 50 months in prison, while being acquitted of the more serious federal charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. He has appealed his conviction and sentence.
The lawsuit involving Jay-Z and the anonymous woman, however, was a separate civil case and its allegations were denied by Carter.
With the woman now formally stating that she never met Jay-Z and that her claims against him were false, the legal dispute has entered another significant phase one that is now centred largely on the conduct and legal strategy of the attorneys involved.
For Jay-Z, the declaration represents a dramatic reversal from the allegations that shook his public image in late 2024.
For Buzbee, the woman’s account of how the case was prepared has been strongly disputed, leaving the competing versions of events to be addressed through the remaining litigation.
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