Credit: Alamy

Shawn ‘Jay-Z‘ Carter’s defamation claim against Tony Buzbee is set to proceed to a trial. On February 25th, Judge Mark H. Epstein said Carter’s claim that the attorney acted recklessly and with malice had enough weight to stand on.

Buzbee accused Carter and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl at an afterparty for the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. Jane Doe claimed that Carter removed her clothes, held her down and raped her while Combs and a female celebrity watched. She said Combs also raped her, as Carter and the woman observed.

Carter first sued Buzbee anonymously in November, claiming he was “shamelessly“ trying to extort him amid claims against Combs. Less than a month later, Buzbee filed the complaint that named Carter in the alleged child rape case. Carter denied the allegations and confirmed he had previously filed the extortion lawsuit.

However, Buzbee voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit earlier in February, stating that Jane Doe “hereby gives notice that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice.” Carter issued a statement afterwards, calling the suit a “cash grab.” The lawyer has now been barred from practising law in the state of New York.

In a sworn statement filed on February 10th, Carter detailed Buzbee’s claims’ impact on him and how they affected his family relationships.

“I felt that Mr. Buzbee was placing a gun to my head that I either bow to his demands or endure personal and financial ruin,” he said, according to Rolling Stone. “His actions caused me mental anguish about the ticking time bomb and what it would do to me, my family, and my hard-earned reputation.

“It was incredibly painful for my wife and me to sit down with our children, one of whom is at an age where her friends would surely see the press and ask questions about these claims, and explain this. I mourn this loss of innocence for my children, including one who is around the age that the female minor claims to have been when she falsely claims that these heinous acts happened.”

He added, “I am heartbroken that my children have to endure hearing these things about their father, especially at their young age.”