Woman Who Accused Jay-Z of Rape at 13 Says in New Court Filing the Claims Were False

A woman who accused Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter of raping her when she was 13 has now told a federal court, under penalty of perjury, that the allegation was false and that she has never met him.

The woman, identified in court papers only as Jane Doe, filed a 12-page declaration in Manhattan federal court on September 25, 2026, more than a year after she voluntarily dropped the underlying lawsuit. This piece separates what the declaration and court record actually establish from the original 2024 allegation -- the two are more than a year apart, and the facts of each should not be blurred together.

Jane Doe first sued Sean "Diddy" Combs in October 2024 through attorney Tony Buzbee. Two months later, in December 2024, she amended her complaint to add Carter, alleging that both men raped her when she was 13 years old, at an afterparty following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.

Doe voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit against both men in February 2025. No settlement was reported at the time.

In her new filing, Doe states plainly: "I have never met or spoken to Mr. Carter." She said in the declaration: "There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter," and that her "false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering and damage that can never be fully undone," according to CBS News.

Doe's declaration also states that, to her knowledge, her original attorneys never independently investigated the claims against Carter before filing them -- she says they did not conduct a background check, did not ask for proof of her allegations or corroborating witnesses, and never showed her a draft of the complaint before it was filed.

James Blair Newman Jr., Doe's current attorney, said she "maintains that she was a victim of sexual assault, but she was entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter, and those allegations were false." In other words, the declaration withdraws the identification of Carter specifically -- it is not, on its own terms, a claim that no assault of any kind occurred.

This declaration addresses only the allegations made against Carter. It does not concern, and this article does not report on, the separate allegations Doe originally made against Combs.

After Doe voluntarily dismissed her 2025 lawsuit, Carter filed his own malicious-prosecution lawsuit naming both Doe and Buzbee. Following the new declaration, Carter voluntarily dismissed Doe as a defendant in that case. It now proceeds only against Buzbee and his law firm.

In a statement reported by CBS News, Carter said the "trauma" endured by himself, his family and loved ones "can never be dismissed."