Jay-Z suffered a major legal blow on Monday after Los Angeles County Judge Mark Epstein dismissed his extortion and defamation case against Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee. In the ruling, obtained by Rolling Stone, Epstein admitted he was not fully happy with his decision and suggested the Court of Appeal would determine whether he was correct.
“There is no demand for a particular sum of money, although that is not enough to protect the Letters. The real problem for Carter is that the mediation request is about the sexual abuse allegations underpinning a potential civil case, and nothing else. There are no extraneous allegations as to publicizing other unrelated and unsavory things related to Carter and there are no promises to refrain from going to law enforcement if Carter agrees to mediate and does settle,” Epstein wrote in his ruling.
He continued: “While it is true that the alleged conduct here constitutes criminal activity, defendants fall well short of threatening to go to the police unless Carter pays up. Selling silence as to law enforcement for money is extortion, but there is no promise of silence in the criminal context here. And selling silence for money in the civil context is not extortion; it is a settlement with a non-disclosure element.”
Why Is Jay-Z Suing Tony Buzbee?
Buzbee previously represented a Jane Doe who accused Jay-Z and Diddy of allegedly raping her at a party in New York City when she was just 13 years old. After the anonymous woman dropped the case, last year, Jay-Z went after Buzbee. He claimed the lawyer allegedly tried to extort him with the case.
“We are surprised and disappointed by this ruling which turns on the misapplication of California law on the admissibility of the investigators’ statements,” Carter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, told Rolling Stone in a statement. “Notably, the Judge expressly states that his decision would have ‘change[d] dramatically’ if he had admitted the statements into evidence as they would have shown ‘not only that Carter had nothing to do with any sexual assault on Doe, but that Buzbee knew it…’ and thus ‘the court would come out the other way on this motion.’" Spiro concluded by confirming that they plan to appeal the decision.
