In December 2024, three months after Combs was arrested on sex-trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution charges, Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee filed a lawsuit claiming the music mogul and Jay raped a then-13-year-old girl at an MTV Music Awards after-party in 2000.

Jay-Z, who vehemently denied the allegations, hit back at Buzbee in a fiery statement: “My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a lawyer named Tony Buzbee.

“What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations, and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle. No, sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!”

He added: “These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree? These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.

“My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence.”

While the case was eventually dismissed and no charges were brought against Jay, the rapper said his family faced death threats as a result of the filing.

But legal drama did not end for the couple after Buzbee’s lawsuit was dropped.