Lawyer Alex Spiro believes that many individuals are prepared to come forward and address the purported discrepancies in the rape accusation leveled against Jay-Z.
Spiro shared with Us Weekly and other journalists during a press briefing at Roc Nation’s offices in New York City on Monday, December 16, that “There are dozens and dozens of people that are gonna say there was no party in the ‘white house.’”
The reference made by Spiro was towards the alleged site where the unidentified woman, known as Jane Doe, accused Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her at an MTV Video Music Awards post-celebration in 2000. As per Spiro, the residence in question is non-existent.
Earlier this month, Diddy and Jay-Z, both 55, were named in a civil lawsuit where the woman accused the two rappers of raping her when she was 13. The lawsuit was initially filed in October with only Diddy named in the paperwork, but attorney Tony Buzbee, who is representing numerous people claiming to be victims of Diddy, refiled the paperwork on December 8 to include Jay-Z in the suit.
Both Jay-Z and Diddy have refuted the allegations, and the Roc Nation founder has filed a motion to dismiss the civil lawsuit.
On Monday, Spiro began the roundtable by stating that Jay-Z “did not rape a child” before giving a presentation that detailed alleged holes in the accuser’s story.
The woman came forward last week to acknowledge the inconsistencies in her account but stood by her claims. One of those inconsistencies is her description of the house where the incident allegedly took place. Buzbee and his team shared that they were attempting to determine the location that the woman described. Spiro, for his part, criticized Buzbee on Monday.
“You can see here now that this is starting to unravel and the truth is coming out, he’s starting to walk away from it,” Spiro claimed. “He’s saying, ‘Oh, sorry. This case was referred to our firm by another firm, so I didn’t really check it out.’ It’s basically what he said, right? He brings an accusation like this, attacks a man with the integrity of Mr. Carter, and all he has to say for himself now is, ‘Well, I didn’t really check on this. I got a referral trying to make a little bit of money. So we just went live with it.’”
Buzbee subsequently responded to Spiro’s comments in a statement to Us.
“This client was signed up and referred to our firm by another law firm. That law firm drafted the initial complaint,” he said on Monday. “However, four individuals at our firm have also interviewed the client and checked details after accepting the referral. A background check was run on the client. We also engaged a seasoned investigator to vet some details she disclosed to us. Those results were consistent with what the client had told us.”
Buzbee continued: “We sent a letter to Mr. Carter’s counsel and offered to sit down to discuss the claims confidentially. Rather than accepting that offer, Mr. Spiro chose to file a public lawsuit accusing me personally of extortion. He made that claim knowing that we made no demand at all for money and out it in the public sphere. That case is utterly frivolous. Further: At least three lawyers from our firm interviewed the client prior to filing the amended complaint naming Mr. Carter. The client also has signed two separate affidavits. Our client remains adamant about her claim. Mr. Spiro tries to be a bully. But we won’t be bullied. Our conduct has been beyond reproach and will continue to be. We will be raising some of the conduct of our adversaries in due course that is extremely troubling.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
With reporting by Brody Brown
