A woman who accused Jay-Z of sexual assault has formally recanted her allegations, saying in a sworn court declaration that she never met or spoke to the rapper. “Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter never raped me. I have never met or spoken to Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever,” she wrote in the 12-page declaration filed in Manhattan federal court. “There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr. Carter.”
The Jay-Z accuser recants filing, made under penalty of perjury, states she understands her “false accusations have caused Mr. Carter immense pain, suffering, and damage that can never be fully undone”. Her new attorney, James Blair Newman Jr., said the woman maintains she was a victim of sexual assault but was “entirely mistaken” in identifying Carter. “She sincerely and unconditionally apologizes to Mr. Carter and his family”.
The declaration was filed alongside notice that Carter was voluntarily dismissing the woman as a defendant in his ongoing malicious-prosecution lawsuit against attorney Tony Buzbee and his firm. The woman said her involvement began after she responded to a Facebook advertisement seeking people with sexual assault claims against Sean “Diddy” Combs. She alleged her initial lawsuit was filed without her knowledge and that she later began doubting her claims. Buzbee said he had not seen the new declaration but claimed the woman had previously given the same account to multiple lawyers.
