A woman who previously accused American rapper and businessman Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 has formally withdrawn the allegation, declaring in a new court filing that she never met the music star and that her accusations against him were false.
The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, filed a 12-page declaration in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, September 24, 2026. She stated that Shawn Carter, professionally known as Jay-Z, never raped her, never engaged in inappropriate conduct towards her and had never even spoken to her.
The development marks a major reversal in a case that attracted international attention when the woman alleged in 2024 that Jay-Z and fellow music executive Sean “Diddy” Combs sexually assaulted her at an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards in New York in 2000. Both men denied the allegations.
The woman initially filed a lawsuit against Combs before amending the complaint to name Jay-Z. She claimed she had been drugged and assaulted while another unnamed celebrity watched. The case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice in February 2025, meaning the same claims could not be refiled.
Her latest declaration goes considerably further than simply withdrawing the lawsuit. She now says there was no truth to her allegations against Jay-Z and acknowledged that the accusations caused him significant pain and damage. She also stated that she received no money from Carter or anyone representing him in exchange for making the declaration.
The latest filing also revisits questions about how the original lawsuit was prepared. Jane Doe said she responded to a Facebook advertisement in September or October 2024 seeking people who might have sexual assault claims against Combs. She alleged that after being contacted by a law firm, the complaint naming Carter was filed without an independent investigation or corroborating evidence and that she had not approved the version eventually submitted to court.
Attorney Tony Buzbee, who represented the woman, has disputed suggestions that he improperly manufactured the claim. He told Rolling Stone that he had not seen her latest declaration and said several lawyers had previously heard the same account from the woman before his firm represented her. He added that any claim by her that she had lied to the lawyers and the court would amount to new information.
The case had already taken another turn in March 2025 when a recording emerged in which the woman was heard telling private investigators associated with Carter that Jay-Z did not assault her and alleging that Buzbee had pushed her towards including the rapper in the case. Buzbee rejected that account at the time and accused Carter’s representatives of attempting to intimidate his former client.
Jane Doe has now also rejected an earlier allegation that investigators working for Carter threatened or harassed her into changing her story. In her latest declaration, she said neither Carter nor anyone acting on his behalf threatened her.
Following the dismissal of the original sexual assault lawsuit, Jay-Z launched legal action of his own against the woman and her former lawyers, alleging malicious prosecution, abuse of process and other wrongdoing. Jane Doe has since been removed from Carter’s continuing litigation, leaving his legal dispute with her former attorneys.
That wider legal battle has not gone entirely Carter’s way. Earlier in September 2026, a California appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that struck some of his extortion and defamation claims against Buzbee and excluded recordings obtained by private investigators. The decision concerned the admissibility and legal viability of those claims rather than whether the original rape allegation against Carter was true.
Combs had also denied the accusation connected to the alleged 2000 incident. The withdrawal and subsequent recantation of this particular allegation are separate from the other criminal and civil cases that have involved Combs.
For Jay-Z, the new declaration represents the clearest reversal yet of an allegation he strongly denied from the moment his name was publicly attached to the case. What began as a serious accusation against one of the world’s most prominent music figures has now ended with the original accuser telling a federal court that she never met him and that her claims against him were untrue.