HOUSTON — An Alabama girl who accused Jay-Z and Diddy of raping her when she was 13 years previous sat down with NBC News to recount what she known as a “catastrophic occasion”: a limo trip to a white home, a drink that made her really feel woozy, a sexual assault by rap stars that may smash her life.
But the lady and her attorneys additionally acknowledge that there have been some inconsistencies in her account in response to questions from NBC News.
“I’ve made some errors” in recollections of that night time, the lady, recognized as Jane Doe within the lawsuit filed towards Jay-Z and Diddy, informed NBC News. The girl stated she stands by her allegations general. The inconsistencies in her account of the incident — alleged to have occurred 24 years in the past — don’t essentially imply the allegations are false.
Among the inconsistencies: The girl stated her father picked her up after the alleged sexual assault, however he says he doesn’t recall that. The girl additionally claims she spoke to a star on the after-party the place she stated she was sexually assaulted, however that celeb stated he was not in New York at the moment. And photos from that night present Jay-Z, whose actual identify is Shawn Carter, and Sean “Diddy” Combs at a distinct location than the one the lady described, though their whereabouts for the complete night are unclear.
“This incident didn’t occur,” Carter informed NBC News in an announcement Friday, “and but he filed it in courtroom and doubled down within the press,” he added, referring to one of many girl’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee. “True Justice is coming. We battle FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over earlier than it started. This 1-800 lawyer doesn’t notice it but, however, quickly.”
Buzbee says he’s persevering with to vet her claims.
“Jane Doe’s case was referred to our agency by one other, who vetted it previous to sending it to us,” he informed NBC News in an electronic mail. “Our shopper stays fiercely adamant that what she has said is true, to one of the best of her reminiscence. We will proceed to vet her claims and gather corroborating knowledge to the extent it exists. Because we have now interrogated her intensely, she has even agreed to undergo a polygraph. I’ve by no means had a shopper counsel that earlier than.”
“In any occasion,” he added, “we at all times do our greatest to vet every declare made, simply as we did on this case. This has been extraordinarily distressing for her, to the purpose she has skilled seizures and needed to search medical therapy as a result of stress.”
The allegations towards Carter counsel a seismic shift, doubtlessly linking the rap legend to the alleged habits specified by civil and felony instances towards Combs, who’s in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering expenses.
Carter’s legal professional Alex Spiro stated, “It is beautiful {that a} lawyer wouldn’t solely file such a severe grievance with out correct vetting, however would make issues worse by additional peddling this false story within the press. We are asking the Court to dismiss this frivolous case as we speak, and can take up the matter of further self-discipline for Mr. Buzbee and all of the attorneys that filed the grievance.”
Combs’ attorneys known as the go well with a “shameful cash seize.” Buzbee has filed greater than 20 lawsuits towards Combs.
The lawsuit was initially filed in October within the Southern District of New York, itemizing Combs as a defendant, and it was refiled Sunday to call Carter as one other defendant.
NBC News traveled to Houston to interview the lady, who declined to be recognized, at her legal professional’s workplace earlier this week.
“You ought to at all times battle for what occurred to you,” she stated about why she goes public along with her accusations now. “You ought to at all times advocate for your self and be a voice for your self. You ought to by no means let what someone else did smash or run your life. I simply hope I can provide others the power to come back ahead like I got here ahead.”
The girl, who’s now 38, informed NBC News she was residing in Rochester, New York, in 2000 and that attending the VMAs was “on my bucket listing at 13. It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ a type of issues I’ve bought to do.” She stated she snuck out a window to evade her dad and mom.
A good friend drove her to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, she stated within the lawsuit. People thronged into viewing areas outdoors the venue, which was decked out for the awards. Crowds roared when J.Lo arrived. Eminem carried out on the road.
She didn’t have a ticket, and stated within the go well with she watched a number of the present on a jumbotron outdoors. She additionally began chatting up limo drivers. “I’m attempting to get in to attempt to keep again and get to an after-party and get invited in and meet some celebrities,” she informed NBC News.
One limo driver stated he labored for Combs and that she “match what Diddy was in search of,” the go well with stated, and he informed her to return later and he’d take her to an after-party. After about 20 minutes within the limo, she stated within the go well with, she arrived at a “massive white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway.” She stated within the go well with she signed a doc that she didn’t learn.
Inside, she informed NBC News, “I’m speaking to, like, Fred Durst, Benji Madden, about his tattoo, as a result of, , about his tattoo that’s ‘The Last Supper,’ as a result of I’ve a non secular background, so it was simply one thing to speak about.”
After accepting a drink from a waitress, she informed NBC News: “I began feeling humorous. Tried to begin in search of a spot to put down.”
She discovered an empty room with a mattress in it, she stated within the go well with, and shortly after, Combs, Carter and a girl entered the room. “You are able to social gathering!” Combs stated, in accordance with the go well with.
Both Combs and Carter raped her, she stated. “Jay-Z comes over, holds me down. I begin attempting to push away. He places his hand over my mouth, tells me to cease it, to chop the shit, after which he rapes me like he had me overpowered,” she stated.
Afterward, she stated within the go well with, she managed to flee the home and ran to a fuel station.
“I used to be upset, and the individual on the fuel station may inform that I used to be clearly upset, and she or he let me use the telephone. I known as my dad as a result of he was the one individual I belief at the moment. I informed him I tousled and I wanted a trip house,” she informed NBC News. “We rode house in silence. He didn’t ask me what occurred. He didn’t ask me what I did or the place I used to be.”
She informed NBC News she by no means informed anybody concerning the alleged assault or wrote it down in a diary. “Even if someone came upon, who was gonna imagine me? I imply, it was to the phrase of two celebrities towards mine,” she stated.
The years after have been onerous, she stated. “I bought severely depressed. I withdrew utterly. My grades began slipping,” and she or he dropped out of college. She skilled homelessness, she stated, and at one level suffered a head damage. She and her father additionally stated she was raped later in life.
She now has two kids, a son and a daughter. She served lower than a yr within the Army National Guard and left with the rank of personal. She bought her highschool diploma and “bought my Christian counseling certification in order that I will help individuals who have gone via what I’ve gone via,” she stated.
She additionally stated she has her utilized habits evaluation certification so she will help folks with autism, which she says she has. “There are so little sources to mothers that don’t have the correct quantity of earnings,” she stated.
Reaction was swift within the days because the girl went public along with her allegations towards Carter. The rapper launched an announcement calling the claims “idiotic” and “heinous in nature” and sharply criticizing her legal professional.
There are some inconsistencies in her story about that night time.
Her father informed NBC News that he doesn’t recall selecting her up after the alleged assault, casting doubt on a key element in her lawsuit.
According to their tackle on the time, her father would have pushed greater than 5 hours from their house to choose her up.
“I really feel like I might do not forget that, and I don’t,” he stated in an interview Thursday. “I’ve loads occurring, however I imply, that’s one thing that may undoubtedly stick in my thoughts.”
The girl’s father, who stated he discovered of the alleged assault this week, added that he did keep in mind as soon as selecting her up in the midst of the night time. But, he stated, it “was an area drive.”
Asked about her father’s account in a follow-up interview on Friday, the lady stated she stood by her declare that he had picked her up and that it’s doable he had misremembered.
“There are lots of issues, and that is stuff that we argue about consistently, one thing he stated or did again in New York round that point interval he simply doesn’t keep in mind,” she stated. “It truly causes lots of fights generally within the family.”
Regarding her father’s recollections, Buzbee informed NBC News, “We agree he states he doesn’t keep in mind. … His daughter explains that he was in no state to recollect throughout that cut-off date because of private points he was having then. We are speaking a few timeframe greater than twenty years in the past.”
The girl additionally informed NBC News she spoke with musician Benji Madden on the after-party.
But a consultant for Madden confirmed that neither Benji nor his brother Joel attended the 2000 VMAs and that they have been on tour within the Midwest at the moment. (The girl didn’t accuse the brothers of any wrongdoing.)
“Honestly, what’s the clearest is what occurred to me and [the] route that I took to what occurred to me. Not the entire faces there are as clear,” the lady stated within the Friday follow-up interview. “So I’ve made some errors. I’ll have made a mistake in figuring out.”
The girl additionally couldn’t present additional details about the after-party she stated she attended.
Professional photos reviewed by NBC News present Combs and Carter have been among the many celebrities who attended a VMAs after-party on the Lotus nightclub in New York City. It just isn’t clear what time these photos have been taken, or if Combs and Carter attended some other after-parties.
The constructing that housed Lotus, now closed, doesn’t match the outline of the home the lady described within the lawsuit and interview.
“I didn’t know precisely the place we have been going and even how lengthy it took,” the lady stated when requested Tuesday the place she thought she was taken that night time. She added that she had guessed concerning the size of time the journey had taken within the lawsuit.
Buzbee stated, “We have tried to verify the proper location. We have by no means prompt the situation was the Lotus membership. Our shopper has been very particular and detailed concerning the description of the venue she says she was taken to, and she or he has by no means said it was the Lotus Club.”
He added, “We gained’t speculate on whether or not there was an after-after social gathering, as a result of once more, she doesn’t know that.”
Also among the many girl’s allegations that might not be corroborated is how she made it to New York City that night time.
One of her attorneys supplied NBC News with the identify and beginning date of the good friend she stated drove her, who would have been 20 on the time. That individual seems to have since died. NBC News’ makes an attempt to succeed in the individual’s family have been unsuccessful.