Key facts
- A woman who accused Jay-Z of rape has recanted her claim.
- The woman stated she never met Jay-Z and he never engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her.
- Jay-Z's lawyers are dropping the woman as a defendant in their defamation case.
- The woman also stated that Sean "Diddy" Combs did not rape her.
- Her original claim was filed by her lawyers without independent investigation.
A woman who accused musician Jay-Z of rape in a 2024 lawsuit has recanted her claim and stated she never met the billionaire rapper. The woman, identified as Jane Doe in court papers, had accused Jay-Z and musician Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping her in 2000 when she was 13 years old. She later dropped that civil lawsuit, and Jay-Z sued her and her law firm for defamation and malicious prosecution.
A declaration from the woman was filed on Thursday as part of the defamation suit. In it, she said there was "no truth to any of my claims" against Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and that she was not being paid for her statements. "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," the woman wrote in statements filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Jay-Z's lawyers said they were dropping the woman as a defendant in the defamation case. Representatives for Jay-Z had no comment. She also said Combs did not rape her. Her original claim was unrelated to the case that led to Combs' 2025 conviction and 50-month prison sentence on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Attorneys for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The woman said her lawyers at the time filed the case “without conducting any independent investigation, background inquiry, or due diligence, and without obtaining any corroboration of the allegations" before filing the original complaint in October 2024. She said she had contacted the law firm after seeing a Facebook ad seeking information about anyone who may have been harmed by Combs. The ad triggered memories of her being raped at age 13, she said, adding that she filled out an online form and was contacted by a law firm. She said that weeks later a lawsuit was filed on her behalf but she had never been given a draft to review.