Alleged rape | Jay-Z’s lawyer says accusation is ‘unprovable’ and ‘false’

(New York) A lawyer defending Jay-Z against the rape accusation filed against him last week by an anonymous woman presented a series of evidence Monday that he said showed the accuser’s account was “unprovable and manifestly false.”

The woman told NBC News last week that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs sexually assaulted her in 2000, when she was 13, at a party after the MTV Music Awards. She has since acknowledged certain inconsistencies in her story.

Speaking to reporters at Roc Nation headquarters in New York, Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro said the woman’s complaint relied on an “impossible timeline” and a nonexistent location. While the suit says the assault occurred at a “large white residence with a U-shaped driveway,” photos show Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, and Combs at a nightclub after the awards ceremony.

In the complaint, the woman said she escaped through the window of her Rochester home and was taken to the awards ceremony by a friend, who has since died. She said she watched the event on a giant screen outside, then befriended a limo driver who drove her to the party where she was attacked by the two rap moguls.

After the alleged rape, she said she fled the house and called her father to take her home from a nearby gas station.

The prosecution, said M^e Spiro, “defies all credibility”. It would have taken her a five-hour drive from Rochester, the lawyer noted, meaning she would have had to leave her house by 3 p.m. Permits and photographs show there was no giant screen outside the VMAs in 2000, according to M^e Spiro. The woman’s father said he did not remember driving from Rochester to pick her up in New York.

“It’s not just that this story is a lie and it’s not true, it’s blatantly false,” Ms.^e Spiro. “That never happened. »

The complaint comes amid a wave of sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs, who remains in custody in New York awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He has pleaded not guilty and will go to trial in May.

The lawsuits were filed on the eve of the expiration of theAdult Survivors Acta New York law giving victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file a civil suit, regardless of the statute of limitations.

After initially suing Combs, the woman’s complaint was amended to include a new allegation that Jay-Z also participated in the sexual assault while a third unnamed celebrity watched.

The suit was filed by Tony Buzbee, a Houston personal injury attorney whose firm set up a toll-free hotline for accusers. In October, M^e Buzbee said he represented some 120 people, men and women, on sexual misconduct accusations against Combs.

Last month, Jay-Z anonymously sued M^e Buzbee, alleging the lawyer tried to blackmail him into making the rape accusation

In a statement last week, Jay-Z said his “heart and support goes out to the real victims around the world.”

Monday, M^e Spiro accused M^e Buzbee for “taking advantage” of the woman, while “destroying this opportunity and the voices of the real victims.”

In an emailed statement Monday, Mr.^e Buzbee said the woman was recommended to him by another law firm and vetted by four attorneys at his firm.

“Courts exist to resolve factual conflicts,” added Mr.^e Buzbee. “Our client remains categorical about her complaint. »