A New York judge opted to keep the identity of the woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 years old nearly 25 years ago a secret for now — just weeks after the hip-hop mogul’s attorney pushed for her name to be revealed.
In a new filing Thursday, Judge Analisa Torres scolded the rapper’s lawyer Alex Spiro for being combative and attempting to “fast-track” the judicial process after he made multiple requests that the court deny the alleged victim’s plea request to remain anonymous and dismiss the scathing lawsuit filed against Jay-Z — whose real name is Shawn Carter.
“Carter’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,” Torres said in the five-page filing.
“The Court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it,” the judge added. \
“Here, the weight of the factors tips in favor of allowing Plaintiff to remain anonymous, at least for this stage of the litigation.”
The woman — referred to as “Jane Doe” in her suit — accused Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and raping her at an after-party for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City, according to the disturbing suit filed in the Southern District of New York earlier this month.
The woman alleges she was approached by Combs’ alleged limo driver, who invited her to an after-party while she tried to get into the VMAs show at Radio City Music Hall in September of that year.
When she got to the after-party residence, she alleged she was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
In court papers, the alleged victim claims she was allegedly drugged after being served a drink and then attacked by Combs and Carter at the drug-fueled party as an unnamed “female celebrity” watched.
The “Empire State of Mind” rapper has vehemently denied the allegations while also blasting the alleged victim and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, for filing a “false statement” after the woman struggled to recall key details levied against the musician during an interview with NBC News.
Spiro, who is also representing embattled Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams, has since filed motions asking the court to dismiss the claim and make the accuser’s identity public, claiming the suit is full of inconsistencies.
Combs, who was arrested in September on federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, has also denied the allegations in the rape lawsuit and pleaded not guilty to his federal charges.
The Bad Boy Entertainment founder is being held without bail in federal custody in Brooklyn. His trial begins in May 2025.
Buzbee, the bigshot Texas lawyer representing the musicians’ accuser, is also facing his own set of allegations.
In a suit filed anonymously last week in Manhattan Supreme Court, he is accused of deliberately giving a woman a sexually transmitted disease and hitting her so hard he smashed her teeth in.
He then offered his accuser free legal services to secure her silence and compliance and “became possessive” to “prevent her from exposing him for what he did to her,” according to the suit.
