The woman who accused Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 has fully recanted her allegations in a new court declaration, saying she has never met the rapper.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the anonymous woman, known as Jane Doe, filed the 12-page declaration in Manhattan federal court on Thursday (September 24).
“Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter never raped me. I have never met or spoken to Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever,” she wrote.
“There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter,” she continued. “I understand my false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone.”
Doe also said she had not been promised or received any compensation in exchange for making the declaration.
Her new lawyer, James Blair Newman Jr., said in a statement that Doe “maintains that she was a victim of sexual assault”, but was “entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter”.
“Mr. Carter did not rape her, sexually assault her, engage in any inappropriate conduct towards her, and she has never met him,” Newman added. “She sincerely and unconditionally apologises to Mr. Carter and his family.”
The original lawsuit was filed against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in October 2024, initially alleging that an unidentified male celebrity had also sexually assaulted Doe at an after-party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. An amended complaint filed that December named Jay-Z as the second man.
Jay-Z denied the allegations from the outset. The woman later acknowledged inconsistencies in her account, before voluntarily withdrawing the lawsuit with prejudice in February 2025, meaning it could not be refiled.
Carter subsequently sued Doe and her lawyers, including attorney Tony Buzbee, accusing them of malicious prosecution and alleging an effort to pressure him into a financial settlement. Buzbee has denied wrongdoing and has maintained that his firm believed Doe’s allegations when it pursued the case.
In the new declaration, Doe said she first responded to a Facebook advert seeking people with sexual assault allegations against Combs in autumn 2024. She claimed her initial suit was filed without her knowledge and without her lawyers conducting an independent investigation, and said she began doubting her claims against Carter in January 2025.
Buzbee disputed that account when contacted by Rolling Stone, saying multiple lawyers had spoken to Doe before he met her and that she had given them the same account.
In March 2025, a recording emerged in which she was heard saying Carter “didn’t have anything” to do with the alleged sexual acts and that Buzbee had “pushed” her towards including him in the lawsuit.
At that time, however, she separately said she still stood by her claims and alleged that she had dropped the case because she feared intimidation and retaliation. Buzbee described the recording as a “pieced-together fabrication” and denied pushing her to make an allegation against Carter.
Earlier this year, Jay-Z spoke about the impact of the allegations, saying the experience left him “heartbroken” and feeling “uncontrollable rage”.
The rapper is currently marking the 30th anniversary of ‘Reasonable Doubt’ and the 25th anniversary of ‘The Blueprint’. Earlier this month, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams joined him during his anniversary show in Paris, following stadium concerts in New York and London.
He has also joined Rick Rubin for the new eight-part documentary series JAŸ-Z IN 8, which is currently being released weekly on MUBI in the UK.
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