HOUSTON — An Alabama lady 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 destroy her life.
But the girl and her attorneys additionally acknowledge that there have been some inconsistencies in her account in response to questions by NBC News.
“I’ve made some errors” in her recollections of that night time, the girl, recognized as Jane Doe within the lawsuit filed towards Jay-Z and Diddy, informed NBC News. The lady mentioned she stands by her allegations total. 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 lady mentioned her father picked her up after the alleged sexual assault, however he says he doesn’t recall that. The lady additionally claims she spoke to a star on the after-party the place she mentioned she was sexually assaulted, however that celeb mentioned he was not in New York at the moment. And photographs from that night present Jay-Z, whose actual title is Shawn Carter, and Sean “Diddy” Combs at a special location than the one the girl described, though their whereabouts for your complete night are unclear.
“This incident didn’t occur,” Carter informed NBC News in a press release Friday, “and but he filed it in court docket and doubled down within the press” he added, referring to one of many lady’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee. “True Justice is coming. We struggle 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. Our consumer stays fiercely adamant that what she has acknowledged is true, to one of the best of her reminiscence. We will proceed to vet her claims and gather corroborating information to the extent it exists. Because we now have interrogated her intensely, she has even agreed to undergo a polygraph. I’ve by no means had a consumer recommend 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 because of the stress.”
The allegations towards Carter prompt a seismic shift: probably linking the rap legend to the alleged habits specified by civil and legal instances towards Combs, who’s in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering costs.
Carter’s legal professional, Alex Spiro, mentioned, “It is beautiful {that a} lawyer wouldn’t solely file such a critical 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 in the present day, 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 girl, who declined to be recognized, at her legal professional’s workplace earlier this week.
“You ought to at all times struggle for what occurred to you,” she mentioned 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 anyone else did destroy or run your life. I simply hope I may give others the energy to return ahead like I got here ahead.”
The lady, who’s now 38, informed NBC News she was dwelling in Rochester, New York, in 2000 and that attending the VMAs was “on my bucket record at 13. It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, a kind of issues I’ve acquired to do.’” She mentioned she snuck out a window to evade her mother and father.
A pal drove her to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, she mentioned 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 mentioned within the go well with she watched among 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 mentioned he labored for Combs and that she “match what Diddy was searching for,” the go well with mentioned, and he informed her to return later and he’d take her to an after-party. After about 20 minutes within the limo, she mentioned within the go well with, she arrived at “giant white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway.” She mentioned 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, you recognize, 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 searching for a spot to put down.”
She discovered an empty room with a mattress in it, she mentioned within the go well with, and shortly after, Combs, Carter and a girl entered the room. “You are able to get together!” Combs mentioned, based on the go well with.
Both Combs and Carter raped her, she mentioned. “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 and after which he rapes me like he had me overpowered,” she mentioned.
Afterward, she mentioned 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 might inform that I used to be clearly upset, and he or she 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 residence,” she informed NBC News. “We rode residence 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 in regards to the alleged assault or wrote it down in a diary. “Even if anyone came upon, who was gonna imagine me? I imply, it was to the phrase of two celebrities towards mine,” she mentioned.
The years after have been exhausting, she mentioned. “I acquired severely depressed. I withdrew utterly. My grades began slipping,” and he or she dropped out of faculty. She skilled homelessness, she mentioned, and at one level suffered a head harm. She and her father additionally mentioned she was raped later in life.
She now has two kids, a son and a daughter. She served lower than a 12 months within the Army National Guard and left with the rank of personal. She acquired her highschool diploma and “acquired my Christian counseling certification in order that I may help individuals who have gone by means of what I’ve gone by means of,” she mentioned.
She additionally mentioned she has her utilized habits evaluation certification so she may help folks with autism, which she says she has. “There are so little sources to mothers that don’t have the right quantity of revenue,” she mentioned.
Reaction was swift within the days because the lady went public along with her allegations towards Carter. The rapper launched a press release 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 handle on the time, her father would have pushed greater than 5 hours from their residence to select her up.
“I really feel like I might keep in mind that, and I don’t,” he mentioned in an interview Thursday. “I’ve so much happening, however I imply, that’s one thing that may positively stick in my thoughts.”
The lady’s father, who mentioned he discovered of the alleged assault this week, added that he did bear in mind as soon as selecting her up in the midst of the night time. But, he mentioned, it “was a neighborhood drive.”
Asked about her father’s account in a follow-up interview on Friday, the girl mentioned she stood by her declare that he had picked her up and that it’s doable he had misremembered.
“There are plenty of issues, and that is stuff that we argue about always, one thing he mentioned or did again in New York round that point interval he simply doesn’t bear in mind,” she mentioned. “It truly causes plenty of fights typically within the family.”
Regarding her father’s recollections, Buzbee informed NBC News, “We agree he states he doesn’t bear in mind. His daughter explains that he was in no state to recollect throughout that cut-off date resulting from private points he was having then. We are speaking a couple of timeframe greater than 20 years in the past.”
The lady 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 lady didn’t accuse the brothers of any wrongdoing.)
“Honestly, what’s the clearest is what occurred to me and route that I took to what occurred to me. Not all the faces there are as clear,” the girl mentioned within the Friday follow-up interview. “So I’ve made some errors. I could have made a mistake in figuring out.”
The lady additionally couldn’t present additional details about the after-party she mentioned she attended.
Professional photographs 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 photographs 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 girl described within the lawsuit and interview.
“I didn’t know precisely the place we have been going and even how lengthy it took,” the girl mentioned when requested Tuesday the place she thought she was taken that night time. She added that she had guessed in regards to the size of time the journey had taken within the lawsuit.
Buzbee mentioned, “We have tried to substantiate the proper location. We have by no means prompt the placement was the Lotus membership. Our consumer has been very particular and detailed in regards to the description of the venue she says she was taken to, and he or she has by no means acknowledged it was the Lotus Club.”
He added, “We gained’t speculate on whether or not there was an after-after get together, as a result of once more, she doesn’t know that.”
Also among the many lady’s allegations that would not be corroborated is how she made it to New York City that night time.
One of her attorneys supplied NBC News with the title and beginning date of the pal she mentioned drove her, who would have been 20 on the time. That individual seems to have since died. NBC News’ makes an attempt to achieve the individual’s relations have been unsuccessful.
