The woman who accused billionaire rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z and disgraced media mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping her when she was 13 years old has acknowledged that there are inconsistencies in her allegations.
In a new interview with NBC News, the woman, who is suing as a Jane Doe, said that “not all of the faces there are as clear” in her recollections of the incident alleged to have occurred 24 years ago. “So I have made some mistakes,” she told the outlet. “I may have made a mistake in identifying.” However, Doe said that she still stands by her claims overall.
The lawsuit, first filed in October in the Southern District of New York, initially listed the Roc Nation mogul, born Shawn Carter, as an unidentified celebrity defendant. Carter was named in the amended suit in December and vehemently denied Doe’s claims, accusing the woman’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, of blackmail in the form of a demand letter.
“What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,” said Carter in a statement at the time. “No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud that you are in a VERY public fashion.”
After interviewing both Doe and her father, NBC pointed out that while she claimed her father picked her up after the alleged sexual assault, he said he didn’t remember doing that and doesn’t recall driving the more than five hours it would have taken to get from their home to the location of the alleged attack.
Buzbee told NBC, “We agree he states he doesn’t remember. His daughter explains that he was in no state to remember during that point in time due to personal issues he was having then. We are talking about a time frame more than 20 years ago.”
Doe also alleged that she spoke to musician Benji Madden at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in New York City, where she claimed she was sexually assaulted. The outlet confirmed that neither Benji nor his brother Joel attended the event that year.
“What is the clearest is what happened to me and route that I took to what happened to me,” the woman said.
According to NBC, photos from the night show Carter and Combs at a location that is different from the one Doe described in her claims. The outlet notes that their locations for the entire evening are not yet clear.
“Today’s investigative report proves this ‘attorney’ Buzbee filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame,” Carter said in a statement. “This incident didn’t happen and yet he filed it in court and doubled down in the press. True Justice is coming. We fight FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over before it began. This 1-800 lawyer doesn’t realize it yet, but, soon.”
In a statement, Buzbee said Doe’s case “was referred to our firm by another law firm, who vetted it prior to sending it to us.” He added, “Our client remains fiercely adamant that what she has stated is true, to the best of her memory. We will continue to vet her claims and collect corroborating data to the extent it exists. Because we have interrogated her intensely, she has even agreed to submit to a polygraph. I’ve never had a client suggest that before.”
In a letter to Judge Analisa Torres, Carter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, highlighted the discrepancies in Doe’s allegations and wrote that “these stunning revelations make clear that the complaint filed by plaintiffs’ attorney, Anthony Buzbee, therefore had no factual basis whatsoever.” Spiro referenced Buzbee’s statement and said, “Even Mr. Buzbee is walking back the complaint he put his name to — excusing these glaring inconsistencies by pointing the finger at the case being referred by another firm who allegedly vetted the story before sending to them.”