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Sean “Diddy” Combs has dropped his appeal to be released on bail, according to court documents filed on Friday (Dec. 13). The voluntary dismissal means the hip-hop mogul will remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until the start of his criminal trial in May. “Mr. Combs does not seek to appeal […]
Vanderpump Rules star James Kennedy has been arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence, the Burbank Police Department confirms to Billboard. TMZ was first to report the news. According to law enforcement, police were called to a home around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday (Dec. 10) in response to an argument between a man and a woman. “The […]
Morgan Wallen pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts in a Nashville courtroom on Thursday (Dec. 12) following an April incident during which he threw a chair off the sixth-floor balcony of Eric Church’s bar, Chief’s, in April.
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He was sentenced to probation for two years and seven days in a DUI education center.
Wallen pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment, which had been pled down from the original charges, which were three Class E felonies for reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon (the chair) and one misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.
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Thursday’s appearance followed a hearing on Tuesday (Dec. 10), which Wallen did not attend, but where his attorney, Worrick Robinson asked to waive the country artist’s right to a preliminary hearing and a grand jury.
Wallen, wearing a gray blazer, black pants and black shirt, entered the courtroom Thursday with his attorney and security. It was the first time he has attended any of the hearings following the April incident. In the courtroom, Wallen and his attorney Worrick Robinson stood before Judge Cynthia Chappell, who reiterated the charges that Wallen was entering a guilty plea for. Wallen kept his comments to a minimum during the session, mostly answering the judge’s questions with a direct, soft-spoken “Yes, ma’am” or “No, ma’am.” Following the session, Wallen and his attorney exited the courtroom.
In a statement following the hearing, Robinson said, “Earlier today, Morgan Wallen appeared in Davidson County Circuit Court with Judge Cynthia Chappell presiding, where he entered a conditional plea pursuant to Tennessee’s Diversion Statute that does not result in a conviction. The plea agreement with the Office of the District Attorney requires Mr. Wallen to spend seven days at a DUI education center, be on probation for two years — one year for each of the misdemeanor charges for reckless endangerment— pay a $350 fine and court fees. Upon the successful completion of his probation, the charges will be eligible for dismissal and expungement … Mr. Wallen has cooperated fully with authorities throughout these last eight months, directly communicating and apologizing to all involved. Mr. Wallen remains committed to making a positive impact through his music and foundation.”
The court date comes three weeks after Wallen won entertainer of the year at the CMA Awards on Nov. 20.
Johnny Ramone’s widow, Linda Cummings-Ramone, has won a legal victory over Joey Ramone‘s brother, Mickey Leigh, in their never-ending feud over control of the pioneering punk band’s legacy.
In a decision made public on Tuesday (Dec. 10), an arbitrator ruled that Leigh’s manager, David Frey, must be terminated as a director on the board of Ramones Productions Inc., the corporate entity that controls the Ramones’ music and other assets.
Ruling that Frey had breached his fiduciary duty to the company, the arbitrator said Leigh’s manager had “fostered a dysfunctional and disruptive relationship” with Cummings-Ramone and had engaged “in conduct that harms the Ramone brand, rather than promoting that brand.”
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“Mr. Frey has repeatedly engaged in disruptive and negative conduct that has been detrimental to RPI and promoting the legacy of the Ramones,” wrote Shira Scheindlin, a former federal district judge, in a ruling privately issued Dec. 5. “Undoubtedly this conduct has prevented RPI from achieving greater financial success. Mr. Frey’s conduct has harmed RPI.”
One of the major missteps cited by the arbitrator was Frey’s failure to seek Cummings-Ramone’s approval for a planned movie based on Leigh’s memoir, I Slept with Joey Ramone — a film project that Netflix announced in 2021 with actor Pete Davidson attached to star in the title role.
Scheindlin said Frey was “well-aware” of his obligation to obtain Cummings-Ramone’s consent “before agreeing to this project” since the movie would almost certainly feature the band’s music — the rights to which are owned by Ramones Productions. The judge also cited an email from Netflix that described the planned movie as not just a Joey biopic, but “the story of the Ramones.”
“Based on the preponderance of the credible evidence, Mr. Frey breached his duty of care, honesty and loyalty, in failing to present the [Netflix] deal to Ms. Cummings-Ramone and/or the Board of RPI for their approval,” the judge wrote.
In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday (Dec. 11), Cummings-Ramone said she was “thrilled” that they “will now finally be able to move forward and create and expand the legacy of the best band ever.”
“Preserving this legacy is not just a responsibility but a deeply personal mission for me,” she said. “I have dedicated my life to honoring and safeguarding the extraordinary contributions my husband and his band have made to music, culture, and the lives of millions around the world.”
An attorney representing both Hyman and Frey did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.
Joey Ramone (real name Jeffrey Ross Hyman) and Johnny Ramone (John William Cummings) were not actually brothers, and they had a notoriously chilly relationship during their decades as bandmates. In the years since the two died in the 2000s, that feud has seemingly continued between Leigh and Cummings-Ramone.
As the executors of Joey’s and Johnny’s respective estates, Leigh and Cummings-Ramone each own half of Ramones Productions. But that partnership has not gone smoothly, with multiple lawsuits and arbitrations over the past decade.
The latest scuffle began in January, when Cummings-Ramone sued Leigh in New York state court, including allegations that he and Frey had “covertly” developed the “unauthorized” biopic. In the lawsuit, Cummings-Ramone said that any “authoritative story of the Ramones” would require her sign-off: “To permit defendants alone to tell the authoritative story of the Ramones would be an injustice to the band and its legacy.”
As one key part of that case, Cummings-Ramone demanded the removal of Frey as a director on the board of Ramones Productions — arguing that his “continued involvement and obfuscation remains a significant hurdle toward resolving even the most straightforward of operational issues.” In May, the judge overseeing the case ordered that issue to be resolved in arbitration before Scheindlin.
In her ruling granting that request, the arbitrator cited statements from Marky Ramone (Marc Bell) that Frey had been “extremely disruptive” and from C. J. Ramone (Christopher Joseph Ward) that “I do not believe he was ever working in the best interest of the Ramones’ legacy.” Scheindlin also cited an email from the company’s former accountant telling Frey: “You have made it impossible to do what needs to be done.”
“While I agree that there are two sides to every story, the overwhelming weight of the evidence establishes that Mr. Frey has fostered a dysfunctional and disruptive relationship with Ms. Cummings-Ramone, former band members, and RPI’s vendors and partners,” Scheindlin wrote in her decision. “This conduct has harmed RPI and its shareholders.”
In one particularly colorful passage, the judge described an incident this past summer in which the New York Mets had offered to let the Queens-based band celebrate its 50th anniversary by having Cummings-Ramone throw out a ceremonial first pitch at an August game. But Frey ultimately refused to grant approval for her to take part under the simpler name “Linda Ramone” — a key point of contention in their various legal wranglings over the years.
In her decision, Scheindlin said Frey had had “no credible basis to refuse to agree to Ms. Cummings-Ramone throwing out the first pitch using the name Linda Ramone” and had cost the band a valuable chance to boost its public profile.
“This was obviously a very high-profile opportunity to celebrate the band’s 50th Anniversary,” the arbitrator wrote in her ruling. “There was no reason to lose this opportunity other than to continue the animosity and dysfunction between the two shareholders and their representatives.”
The ruling, which must be confirmed by a New York judge, resolves only a single issue in the larger lawsuit and leaves other issues to be resolved in court. Leigh has also sued Cummings-Ramone in a separate lawsuit in federal court, accusing her of trademark infringement and other violations; that case also remains pending.
Trigger warning: the following story describes allegations of sexual abuse and illicit drug use.
An anonymous accuser who claims he was sexually assaulted by jailed music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs at one of the Bad Boy Records founder’s infamous White Party gatherings in 2007 has broken his silence to speak to CNN. The man — who the network ID’d as a John Doe to protect his anonymity –first filed a civil suit against Combs on October 14, claiming he was drugged and sodomized at the party in 2007.
The man said he kept the alleged assault a secret all these years, even from his then-wife due to the shame he carried from the incident at Diddy’s estate in East Hampton, N.Y., where he was hired to provide security. “The full gravity of it lives with me to this day,” the New Jersey man told the network, which obscured his voice and face in a video of the interview. “It affects every single thing you do for the rest of your life.”
CNN said that reps for Combs initially declined to comment on Doe’s allegations, noting that at the time of the original complain’s filing in October the rapper’s lawyers issued a blanket statement about that complaint and others filed that same day.
“Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone—adult or minor, man or woman,” read the original statement. The Doe complaint was one of a series of similar ones filed by attorneys Tony Buzbee and Andrew Van Arsdale, who’ve said they represent up to 120 accusers who plan to file suits against Combs; to date the pair have filed 20 such lawsuits.
“At first he was incredibly friendly, very gracious,” the man said of Combs’ demeanor that night, adding that later in the night Combs handed him a drink that made him feel off. He said that feeling was intensified after a second drink, which he believes were spiked with the strong party drugs GHB and ecstasy. “Sadly, Sean Combs was waiting in the wings. He was watching from some sort of vantage point, and once I was in a helpless position and he was sure that he was in a position of power, then he took advantage of the situation,” the man said.
After the second drink, the man claimed in the suit that he felt “extremely ill,” at which point Combs allegedly approached him with what he initially “interpreted as concern,” before allegedly forcing the man into an empty car. Once inside, Doe’s suit claims that Combs held him down, ignoring pleas for help, and sodomized him.
“It was just an amazing level of incapacitation that I had never experienced before and I felt powerless,” said the man of the two spiked drinks that he said “felt more like 15,” leaving him unable to stand up.
CNN noted a number of inconsistencies between details shared by Doe in his interview with the network and the original complaint’s language, including discrepancies on the year the alleged assault took place and location and whether Doe had ever been married; Doe’s attorneys reportedly filed an amended complaint withe court afterwards, acknowledging mistakes made during the rushed filing.
Doe said that after the alleged assault he struggled to leave the party due to the effects of the drugs and the pain in his body, later allegedly reporting the incident to his supervisor, according to the suit. “I was screaming, I was telling him to stop. It was incredibly painful and he was acting like it was nothing… it was abusive beyond belief,” the man told CNN.
He was allegedly never asked to work for that security firm again. “He just dismissed it and said, ‘I’ll talk to him,’” Doe said about a conversation he recalled with his manager about the alleged sexual assault. “After that, he didn’t talk to me again, he cut me out of everything … I was totally blacklisted after that. I had to find a different field.”
Combs has been denied bail three times to date ahead of his sex trafficking and racketeering trial set for next year. The once high-flying music and fashion tycoon has been behind bars since his arrest in September following an indictment on charges that he ran a sprawling criminal operation predicated on satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.”
Combs, 55, has denied and pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with the help of a network of associates and employees, allegedly silencing his victims via blackmail and violence that included kidnapping, arson and physical assault.
The allegations against Combs first began in November 2023 when former longtime girlfriend singer Cassie filed a lawsuit accusing him of years of sexual misconduct and abuse; that suit was settled in a private manner within 24 hours. That legal action unleashed a flood of more than two dozen similar sexual misconduct-related lawsuits alleging sexual abuse and coercion, allegations that Combs has categorically denied to date.
Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by Homeland Security in March and since then his once-formidable multi-media and fashion empire has begun to wither amid the avalanche of shocking claims about incidents that accusers have said ruined their lives and left them traumatized.
Doe told CNN that he no longer works security and that his marriage ended as a result of the alleged abuse because of the negative impacts of the trauma on his personal relationships. He also said for the first time that an unnamed “high-profile” celebrity witnessed the alleged abuse, claiming the person “saw what happened and found it amusing.”
“Nothing could give me back the person I was before that evening,” the man told CNN.
While Combs’ reps initially declined comment on Doe’s claims, they issued a statement following the airing of the CNN interview. “After Buzbee was exposed this week for pressuring clients to bring bogus cases against Mr. Combs, and after public records showed that — contrary to his allegations — there was no white party in the Hamptons in 2006, Buzbee amended this complaint to walk back the allegations and now claim a different day and wholly different year,” Combs’ attorneys wrote.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A shocking civil lawsuit against Jay-Z accusing him of raping a teen girl in 2000 alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs; a deep-dive into possible motives behind Drake’s legal actions against Universal Music Group; a threat of defamation lawsuits over “Y.M.C.A.” being labeled a “gay anthem”; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Jay-Z Pulled Into Diddy Debacle
Three months after Sean “Diddy” Combs was indicted on sprawling sexual abuse charges, a new civil lawsuit claims Jay-Z participated in one of Diddy’s assaults – a shocking allegation against one of the music industry’s most powerful figures.
In a complaint filed Sunday evening in New York federal court, an unnamed Jane Doe alleges the star (Shawn Carter) raped her as a 13-year-old girl in 2000 alongside Combs at an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards. The case was filed by Tony Buzbee, a Texas attorney who has filed more than 20 such lawsuits against Combs and has threatened dozens more.
“Another celebrity stood by and watched as Combs and Carter took turns assaulting the minor,” the lawsuit reads. “Many others were present at the afterparty, but did nothing to stop the assault.”
To say that Jay-Z has denied the allegations would be putting it lightly. In a forceful statement Sunday night, he called the lawsuit a “blackmail attempt” filed by a “fraud” attorney. Then, less than a day after the case was filed, his attorneys responded in court by calling the case “extortionate” and arguing that the accuser should be required to litigate such “heinous allegations” under her real name. And in yet another filing on Tuesday, they accused Buzbee of pressuring another client to lie – a claim he has denied and called “nothing short of defamation.”
Beyond the lawsuit itself, the allegations against Jay-Z have also sparked a broader legal war — pitting the star’s team and his attorneys at the prestigious BigLaw firm Quinn Emanuel against Buzbee and his prolific plaintiffs’ firm.
For starters, it turns out that it was Jay-Z who filed the mysterious extortion lawsuit against Buzbee last month, accusing him of concocting a “cynical” scheme to extract settlements from innocent celebrities by threatening to link them to Diddy. Buzbee, meanwhile, has fired back with a lawsuit of his own, suing Quinn Emanuel in Texas over allegations that the firm has been harassing him and his clients with “bogus” lawsuits and other “outrageous” conduct.
Jay-Z’s lawyers have already asked for a fast-tracked hearing on their motions, so stay tuned at Billboard for more developments as the case moves forward.
Other top stories this week….
DRAKE’S MOTIVES – What could Drake possibly be thinking? That’s the question Billboard’s Steve Knopper set out to answer in his excellent piece examining the possible motives behind the rapper’s widely-ridiculed legal actions against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar‘s savage diss track “Not Like Us.” Is Drake perhaps seeking leverage to “alter his existing deal” with UMG? Or is it just a “publicity stunt”? Go read Steve’s whole story to find out what industry attorneys had to say.
DON’T SAY GAY? Village People singer Victor Willis is threatening to file defamation lawsuits against news outlets that describe his iconic 1978 disco hit “Y.M.C.A” as a “gay anthem,” saying there’s “nothing gay” about lyrics that have been widely interpreted as a double entendre about gay life. But legal experts told Billboard that such cases that would face serious obstacles in court, thanks largely to the First Amendment and its robust protections for free speech: “Mr. Willis’ threatened libel claim would be a nonstarter for numerous reasons,” one media attorney said.
NBA YOUNGBOY SENTENCED – YoungBoy Never Broke Again was sentenced to 23 months in prison after striking a deal with prosecutors to finally resolve all of his various legal entanglements. The plea deal, which also included 60 months of probation after his release, could see him released as soon as next year due to credit for time he has already served in jail awaiting trial.
BASSNECTAR TRIAL LOOMS – A federal judge refused to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing electronic music producer Bassnectar of sexually abusing three underage girls, sending the long-running case to a jury trial. Ruling on claims made by one alleged victim, the judge noted that she was “only sixteen” at the time and the DJ was “obviously able to observe her in person,” meaning a jury could find that he had “recklessly disregarded” that she was under the age of 18.
STEREOPHONIC SETTLEMENT – The creators of the hit Broadway play Stereophonic reached a settlement to resolve a copyright lawsuit claiming they stole elements of the show from a memoir written by music producer Ken Caillat about the infamous recording of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Caillat claimed that the play – widely seen as a winking reference to Fleetwood – was an “unauthorized adaptation” of his book.
YSL JURY VERDICT – After hearing more than a year of testimony, an Atlanta jury handed down a verdict that largely acquitted the final two remaining co-defendants (Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell) in a sweeping racketeering trial over accusations that Young Thug ran a violent street gang under his YSL moniker. Coming a month after Thug himself escaped the case by pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of only probation, the verdict marks the end of criminal trial that has captivated the music industry for nearly than two years – and a major loss for the Fulton County District Attorney filed it.
TIKTOK BAN RULING – A federal appeals court ruled against TikTok and upheld a law that could ban the service from the country, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform that has become a crucial music promotion tool in recent years. The Chinese-owned company argued that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and its protections for the freedom of speech, but the court was unswayed: “The government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”
YoungBoy Never Broke Again (a.k.a. NBA YoungBoy) has been sentenced to 23 months in federal prison, according to new documents filed in federal court on Tuesday (Dec. 10), followed by 60 months’ probation following his release. The sentence comes nearly four months after it was reported that the 25-year-old rapper, born Kentrell Gaulden, would plead […]
Attorneys for Jay-Z are claiming in new court filings that Tony Buzbee – the attorney behind a bombshell lawsuit accusing the superstar of raping a 13-year-old girl alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs – pressured a different alleged sex trafficking victim to falsely tie her case to Combs.
In court papers filed Tuesday, lawyers for Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) from the law firm Quinn Emanuel tell a federal judge they were approached on Monday by an unnamed woman who had “unsolicited” info to share about Buzbee’s firm.
The woman allegedly told Quinn Emanuel that after she contacted Buzbee’s firm in October about an unrelated celebrity sex abuse case, she was “pressed for a connection to Mr. Combs.” She also allegedly felt “directed and coached by Mr. Buzbee’s firm” to include “false” claims, including that she had been drugged and physically assaulted: “She felt forced to lie.”
“When the woman made clear she was unwilling to adapt to the narrative Mr. Buzbee’s firm laid out and wanted only to speak her truth, she was dropped as a client,” writes Mari Henderson, an attorney at Quinn who says she spoke to the alleged victim, in a sworn declaration. “This woman shared this information because she felt the conduct by Mr. Buzbee’s firm — specifically, to encourage lies — discredits those who are legitimate victims.”
The new filings did not reveal the woman’s name. Though the Quinn Emanuel attorneys say the woman disclosed her name to the firm, they says she currently “wishes to remain unnamed at this time for fear of retaliation by the Buzbee firm.”
In a statement to Billboard on Tuesday, Buzbee called the new accusations “ridiculous” and said the firm was pursuing “hundreds of cases” against people other than Combs. Though he said he could not comment on the specific case without the woman’s name, he strongly denied the allegations.
“We get a lot of calls from people who believe they are aggrieved but we just can’t help,” Buzbee said. “We certainly don’t need to ‘pressure’ anyone to pursue a case. We have plenty of cases. What we won’t do is pursue a case we perceive to be weak or insupportable.”
The new filings are the latest salvo from Jay-Z’s legal team in response to a bombshell lawsuit, filed by Buzbee’s firm late on Sunday, that alleges the rapper joined Combs in drugging and assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2000 during an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards.
Weeks ago, Jay-Z filed a preemptive lawsuit against Buzbee, accusing him of extortion over his threats to sue over “wildly false” claims. Then on Monday, they filed a scathing response to the new rape lawsuit, denying the allegations as “patently false” and arguing they were part of a “scheme” by Buzbee to extract settlements from innocent celebrities by falsely tying them to Diddy.
Buzbee has denied all such allegations, calling them a “coordinated and desperate effort” to avoid his client’s accusations: “We will not be bullied or intimidated by these shenanigans. And our clients won’t be silenced.” Buzbee has also filed his own lawsuit in Texas against Quinn Emanuel, accusing the firm of seeking to “intimidate” him and asking for a restraining order blocking their investigation; that request was denied by a Houston judge on Friday.
Over the past year, Combs has faced a flood of abuse accusations — starting with civil lawsuits and followed by a sweepingfederal indictment in September, in which prosecutors allege he ran a sprawling criminal operation for years aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.”
Weeks after Combs was arrested, Buzbee held a press conference in which he claimed to represent 120 individuals who had been victimized by Combs and threatened a flood of litigation. He has since filed more than 20 such civil lawsuits, all on behalf of unnamed Does.
In an updated complaint on Sunday, Buzbee added Jay-Z to one of those lawsuits. Calling the rapper a “longtime friend and collaborator” of Diddy, the case alleges that the victim was driven to the party and forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement before being given a drink that made her feel “woozy” and “lightheaded.” When she went to a bedroom to lie down, the lawsuit claims, she was assaulted by the two stars while an unnamed female celebrity looked on.
In Tuesday’s new filing, Jay-Z’s attorneys they say they were contacted on Monday by a Texas woman who had submitted a claim to Buzbee’s firm after seeing his October press conference. Though her allegations involved sex trafficking by different celebrities who were “entirely unrelated” to Combs or Carter, she allegedly told Quinn Emanuel that she felt pressured to tie them to Combs.
“After detailing her experiences to an attorney at Mr. Buzbee’s firm, he pressed for a connection to Mr. Combs, asking ‘at what point did you meet Diddy,’ even though she made clear that her case was unrelated to Mr. Combs,” writes Henderson in the affidavit, relaying her phone call with the alleged victim.
In addition to claiming she was press to link her case to Combs, the new filing says the woman also claimed Buzbee’s firm pressured her to pursue the claims anonymously as a “Jane Doe,” and to bring them as a civil lawsuit seeking damages rather than by contacting law enforcement over potential criminal charges.
In technical terms, the new filings came as added support for Monday’s initial response from Jay-Z’s team. In that motion, his attorneys had asked the judge to force his accuser to litigate the lawsuit under her real name, arguing it was necessary to mount a thorough defense of her claims.
“This information, which came to Quinn Emanuel unsolicited, is further evidence in support of Mr. Carter’s right to thoroughly investigate, test, and respond to the spurious allegations that have been leveled against him,” writes Jay-Z’s lead attorney Alex Spiro in Tuesday’s filings.
An Argentinian judge has charged two hotel workers in relation to Liam Payne‘s death, Rolling Stone reported Tuesday (Dec. 10), citing new documents.
According to the filings — which come about two months after the One Direction star suffered a fatal fall from the third-story balcony of his hotel in Buenos Aires — the publication reports that the two are CasaSur Palermo employees. The first is reportedly the hotel’s manager, while the second person is the receptionist head who called 911 leading up to Payne’s Oct. 16 death.
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It is not clear from the documents what specifically the two parties are being charged with, per the publication. The judge has only asked that the manager and receptionist be notified of the charges, calling for all suspects in the case to be questioned amid local authorities’ ongoing investigation into what played out the night of Payne’s fall, according to Rolling Stone, citing the documents obtained.
“Since there is sufficient reason to suspect that they have participated in the investigated act, we ask that the following people give a statement,” reads the filing.
Three others were previously charged in connection to the case: two individuals who work for the hotel are accused of supplying the “Strip That Down” singer with drugs, as well as a friend accused of abandonment of a person followed by death. All of them were detained by police in November.
All five individuals named by the judge will now have to face the courts. After interrogations, it’ll be up to the judge to decide whether they should be further prosecuted or dropped from the case.
Payne died Oct. 16 of multiple traumas. Toxicology reports showed that he had multiple substances in his system at the time, including alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants.
Leading up to his fall from the balcony, the reception head named in the new documents placed two 911 calls. The first was to report that a guest was “trashing the entire room,” and in the second call, he urged that the guest’s life “may be in danger.” The receptionist also asked the dispatcher to send only emergency medical services, and to abstain from sending the police as well, according to a transcript of the call.
The latest update in the investigation comes about three weeks after Payne was laid to rest in a private service attended by his One Direction bandmates, family and girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
Jay-Z (Sean Carter) has filed his first response in court to a lawsuit accusing him of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs, calling the case “extortionate” and arguing that the accuser should be required to litigate such “heinous allegations” under her real name.
In a motion filed less than a day after the shocking case was filed, Carter’s attorneys called the accusations “patently false” and part of “campaign of extortion” by attorney Tony Buzbee, a Texas attorney who has filed a slew of cases against Combs and threatened dozens more.
Allowing Buzbee’s clients to proceed under “Jane Doe” pseudonyms is a just a tactic in a “scheme” to extract settlements from innocent celebrities by falsely tying them to Diddy, Carter’s attorneys argue in the new filing — effectively allowing the attorney to “smear defendant’s good name” while his clients “hide beyond the shield of anonymity.”
“Mr. Carter should not have to defend himself in the brightest of spotlights against an accuser who hides in complete darkness,” writes Jay-Z’s attorney Alex Spiro. “Mr. Carter deserves to know the identity of the person who is effectively accusing him — in sensationalized, publicity-hunting fashion — of criminal conduct, demanding massive financial compensation, and tarnishing a reputation earned over decades.”
Plaintiffs in sexual abuse lawsuits can sometimes proceed under pseudonyms if there’s a strong risk of retaliation, but such treatment is granted in only rare cases. Already, in several of the other civil actions filed against Combs, judges have required Doe accusers to disclose their names, with one ruling that anonymity is “the exception and not the rule” and another citing the “fundamental unfairness” of allowing only one side to remain hidden.
In his filing on Monday, Carter’s attorneys cite those earlier rulings and argue that Buzbee and his accuser have not met any of the key requirements to litigate her case under a “Doe” pseudonym. In technical terms, he wants the judge to force her to reveal her name, or dismiss the case entirely.
“Mr. Carter now is entitled to defend himself against these allegations with benefit of all the protections and mechanisms available to defendants,” Spiro writes in Monday’s motion. “To be sure, attorney Buzbee’s game has been to prevent Mr. Carter from defending himself while punching below the belt. Today, that game is at an end and Mr. Carter’s defense has begun — starting with plaintiff’s unmasking.”
In an email to Billboard on Monday, Buzbee responded to Carter’s motion by saying, “I’m not doing a play by play commentary to every pleading filed in court. We will respond in due course.”
Combs has faced a flood of abuse accusations over the past year, starting with civil lawsuits and followed by a bombshell federal indictment in September, in which prosecutors allege he ran a sprawling criminal operation for years aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.”
Weeks after the indictment, Buzbee joined the fray by holding a press conference in which he claimed to represent 120 individuals who had been victimized by Combs and threatened a flood of litigation. He has since filed more than a dozen such lawsuits, all on behalf of unnamed Doe plaintiffs.
In a shocking complaint filed Sunday evening, Buzbee added Jay-Z as a defendant to an earlier lawsuit that had previously named only Combs. Calling the rapper a “longtime friend and collaborator” of Diddy, the lawsuit alleges Combs and Carter drugged and assaulted the victim during an afterparty following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.
After being driven to the party and forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement, the lawsuit says, the plaintiff was given a drink that made her feel “woozy” and “lightheaded.” After she went to a bedroom to lie down, the lawsuit claims, she was assaulted by the two stars.
“Another celebrity stood by and watched as Combs and Carter took turns assaulting the minor,” the lawsuit reads. “Many others were present at the afterparty, but did nothing to stop the assault.”
The lawsuit came weeks after Buzbee was sued for extortion by an unnamed celebrity who claimed he was threatening to unleash “wildly false horrific allegations” linked to Diddy if the anonymous bigwig didn’t pay up. In Monday’s filing, attorneys for Carter confirmed speculation that the mystery case had in fact been filed by Jay-Z.
“Mr. Carter sought to expose Attorney Buzbee’s latest extortion scheme in a California lawsuit … after receiving a demand letter from Attorney Buzbee,” Spiro writes in the new motion. “Because Mr. Carter called upon the courts rather than paying, he has now been sued. So be it.”
