Jay-Z and his hard-charging attorney were handed a setback Thursday by the judge overseeing a claim that the star raped a 13-year-old girl at a Diddy party.
The billionaire rapper, real name Shawn Carter, had his bid to name the now-adult accuser denied. He was given until the middle of January to file a detailed response to her allegations, which he has publicly and bitterly denied.
Also targeted by Judge Analisa Torres was Alex Spiro, the high-profile and pugnacious attorney Carter has retained to fight his case. The judge tore into Spiro for “relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks.” She warned him his conduct was “inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client.” Spiro has also acted for Elon Musk and Alec Baldwin and currently represents allegedly corrupt New York Mayor Eric Adams.
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The defeat in the first round of litigation marks a setback for Carter, 55, who has lashed out in public at her allegations, calling them “idiotic,” and saying that he is heartbroken that his wife, Beyoncé, will have to tell their children about the allegations.
The woman alleges that she was attacked by Carter at a party run by Sean “Diddy” Combs after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in Manhattan, New York. The woman first accused Combs of drugging and raping her in a suit filed in October, then last month added to it by naming Carter.
The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, tried to get into the VMAs at Radio City Music Hall that year without a ticket, according to the lawsuit. Although she was unsuccessful, a limousine driver later offered her an invite to an afterparty with celebrity guests.
According to the complaint, the driver told her she “fit what Diddy was looking for.”
At the party, the plaintiff began to feel sick after drinking a small portion of a drink she was offered, the suit states. She found an empty bedroom to lie down in, but was soon interrupted when Combs entered the room with Carter and another female celebrity. Combs allegedly approached her and said: “You are ready to party!”
The suit alleges Combs and Carter raped her, while the unnamed celebrity, named only as Celebrity B, watched. The teenager was able to escape the bedroom after punching Combs in the neck, then escaping from the house to a nearby gas station where she called her father for help, she alleged.
In December Carter pounced on an admission the woman made to NBC News which admitted inconsistencies in her account. “I have made some mistakes,” she told the site.
In court filings Carter said the admission was evidence that her case had “no factual basis whatsoever,” and strengthened his case that the woman be named. But in her Thursday ruling the judge concluded that for now, the woman will remain a Jane Doe, although she said that could change nearer the trial.
Carter has denied that he was friends with Combs, whom he was photographed with numerous times over the years. Spiro said the two had no “longtime bond” and told NBC News, “Just because they knew each other, know each other, that doesn’t mean anything.”
How the civil case against Carter will proceed remains unclear, because it is part of the case against Combs, who is first facing criminal trial on charges of rape and sex trafficking which could see him die behind bars if found guilty. Combs is also vehemently denying all charges and is awaiting trial in the “hell-hole” federal lock-up in Brooklyn, New York.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Spiro for comment.
