HOUSTON — An Alabama lady who accused Jay-Z and Diddy of raping her when she was 13 sat down with NBC News to recount what she known as a “catastrophic occasion”: a limousine trip to a White House, a drink that made her really feel dizzy, a sexual assault by rap stars that will smash her life.
But the girl and her attorneys additionally acknowledge there have been some inconsistencies in her account in response to questions from NBC News.
“I made some errors” in my recollections of that evening, the girl, recognized as Jane Doe within the lawsuit filed towards Jay-Z and Diddy, instructed NBC News. The lady mentioned total she stands by her accusations. Inconsistencies in his account of the incident – which allegedly occurred 24 years in the past – don’t essentially imply the allegations are false.
From left, Jay-Z and Sean “Puffy” Combs, November 7, 2000.
Among the inconsistencies: The lady mentioned her father picked her up after the alleged sexual assault, however he says he does not bear in mind it. The lady additionally claims she spoke to a celeb on the after get together the place she claimed she was sexually assaulted, however the superstar mentioned she was not in New York on the time. And the photographs from that night present Jay-Z, whose actual identify is Shawn Carter, and Sean “Diddy” Combs in a special location than the one described by the girl, though it’s not clear the place they had been for all the night.
“This incident didn’t occur,” Carter instructed NBC News in an announcement Friday, “but he offered it in courtroom and doubled down on his efforts within the press,” he added, referring to one of many lady’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee. “True justice is coming. We struggle FOR victory, not FOR victory. All of this was over earlier than it even started. This 1-800 lawyer does not notice it but, however quickly.”
Buzbee says he’s persevering with to confirm his claims.
“Jane Doe’s case was reported to our agency by one other, who reviewed it earlier than sending it to us,” he instructed NBC News in an e-mail. “Our shopper stays firmly satisfied that what she mentioned is true, so far as she will be able to bear in mind. We will proceed to look at his claims and collect corroborating information to the extent it exists. Because we interrogated her intensely, she even agreed to take the polygraph. I’ve by no means had a buyer counsel this earlier than.”
“In any case,” he added, “we all the time do our greatest to guage each request made, simply as we did on this case. This was extraordinarily distressing for her, to the purpose the place she had seizures and needed to search medical consideration as a result of stress.”
The expenses towards Carter counsel a sea change, doubtlessly linking the rap legend to alleged habits uncovered in civil and legal circumstances towards Combs, who’s in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering expenses.
Carter’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, mentioned: “It is astonishing that an lawyer wouldn’t solely file such a critical grievance with out correct verification, however would make issues worse by additional spreading this false story within the press. We ask the Court as we speak to dismiss this frivolous case and deal with the problem of further self-discipline for Mr. Buzbee and all attorneys who filed the grievance.”
Combs’ attorneys known as the lawsuit a “disgraceful 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 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 lawyer’s workplace earlier this week.
“You ought to all the time struggle for what occurred to you,” he mentioned of why he’s now going public along with his allegations. “You ought to all the time advocate for your self and be a voice for your self. You ought to by no means let what another person has executed smash or management your life. I simply hope I can provide others the power to step ahead like I stepped ahead.”
The lady, now 38, instructed NBC News that she lived in Rochester, New York, in 2000 and that attending the VMAs was “on my bucket record at 13. It was like, ‘Oh my God,’ a kind of issues I’ve to do.” She mentioned she escaped out a window to flee her dad and mom.
A buddy accompanied her to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, she mentioned within the lawsuit. People crowded into the viewing areas outdoors the venue, which was adorned for the awards. The crowd roared when J.Lo arrived. Eminem carried out on the road.
He did not have a ticket and mentioned, sporting the go well with, he watched a part of the present on a jumbotron outdoors. He additionally began chatting with limousine drivers. “I’m making an attempt to get in to attempt to keep behind and go to an after-party and get invited and meet some celebrities,” she instructed NBC News.
A limo driver mentioned she labored for Combs and that she “match what Diddy was on the lookout for,” the go well with mentioned, and instructed her to come back again later and he would take her to an after-party. After about 20 minutes within the limousine, she mentioned in a go well with and tie, she arrived at a “giant white residence with a gated U-shaped driveway.” He mentioned within the lawsuit he signed a doc that he did not learn.
Inside, he instructed NBC News, “I’m speaking to Fred Durst, Benji Madden, about his tattoo, as a result of, you recognize, his tattoo being ‘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 instructed NBC News: “I began feeling bizarre. I attempted to start out on the lookout for a spot to lie down.
He discovered an empty room with a mattress, he mentioned within the go well with, and shortly after Combs, Carter and a lady entered the room. “You’re able to get together!” Combs mentioned, in line with the indictment.
Both Combs and Carter raped her, she mentioned. “Jay-Z comes over and holds me down. I begin making an attempt to stroll away. He places his hand over my mouth, tells me to cease, to cease this bullshit, after which rapes me like he is overpowered me,” she mentioned.
Afterward, she mentioned within the lawsuit, she managed to flee the home and ran to a gasoline station.
“I used to be indignant and the individual on the gasoline station realized I used to be clearly indignant and let me use the cellphone. I known as my dad as a result of he was the one individual I trusted on the time. I instructed him I used to be unsuitable and that I wanted a trip dwelling,” she instructed NBC News. “We drove dwelling in silence. He did not ask me what occurred. He did not ask me what I used to be doing or the place I used to be.”
He instructed NBC News that he by no means instructed anybody concerning the alleged assault or wrote about it in a diary. “Even if somebody came upon, who would consider me? I imply, it was two celebrities’ phrase towards mine,” he mentioned.
The subsequent few years had been powerful, he mentioned. “I grew to become severely depressed. I withdrew utterly. My grades began slipping,” and he or she dropped out of faculty. He skilled life as a homeless individual, he mentioned, and at one level suffered a head damage. She and her father additionally mentioned she was raped later in life.
Now he has two kids, a boy and a woman. She served lower than a yr within the Army National Guard and left with the rank of personal. He earned his highschool diploma and “obtained his Christian counseling certification so he might assist individuals who went by way of what I went by way of,” he mentioned.
He additionally mentioned he has utilized habits evaluation certification so he may help individuals with autism, which he says he has. “There are so few sources for mothers who haven’t got an enough earnings,” she mentioned.
The response was swift within the days after the girl made her accusations towards Carter public. The rapper launched an announcement calling the claims “idiotic” and “heinous in nature” and harshly criticizing her lawyer.
There are some inconsistencies in his account of that evening.
Her father instructed NBC News he does not bear in mind selecting her up after the alleged assault, casting doubt on a key element in her lawsuit.
According to their deal with on the time, her father would have pushed greater than 5 hours from dwelling to choose her up.
“I really feel like I might bear in mind it, and I do not,” he mentioned in an interview Thursday. “I’ve lots to do, however I imply, it is one thing that can positively stick in my thoughts.”
The lady’s father, who mentioned he realized of the alleged assault this week, added that he remembered selecting her up in the midst of the evening. But, he mentioned, “it was an area journey.”
Asked about her father’s account in a later interview Friday, the girl mentioned she stood by her assertion that he was the one who picked her up and that it was doable he had misremembered.
“There are plenty of issues, and these are issues we continuously talk about, one thing he mentioned or did in New York throughout that point interval that he simply does not bear in mind,” he mentioned. “It really causes plenty of arguments in the home typically.”
As for his father’s recollections, Buzbee instructed NBC News, “We agree that he claims he does not bear in mind. …His daughter explains that she was unable to recollect on the time resulting from private issues she was having on the time. We are speaking a couple of time span of over twenty years in the past.”
The lady additionally instructed NBC News that she spoke with musician Benji Madden on the after-party.
But a Madden consultant confirmed that neither Benji nor his brother Joel attended the 2000 VMAs and that they had been on tour within the Midwest on the time. (The lady didn’t accuse the brothers of any wrongdoing.)
“Honestly, what’s most clear is what occurred to me and (the) path I took to get to what occurred to me. Not all faces are so clear,” the girl mentioned within the follow-up interview on Friday. “So I made some errors. I’ll have made a mistake in identification.”
The lady additionally couldn’t present additional details about the after-party she mentioned she attended.
Professional photographs reviewed by NBC News present that Combs and Carter had been among the many celebrities who attended the VMAs after-party on the Lotus nightclub in New York City. It’s unclear what time these photographs had been taken, or whether or not Combs and Carter attended another after-parties.
The constructing that housed Lotus, now closed, doesn’t match the outline of the home described by the girl within the grievance and interview.
“I did not know precisely the place we had been going or how lengthy it will take,” the girl mentioned when requested Tuesday the place she thought she was being taken that evening. He added that he had guessed the size of the journey throughout the lawsuit.
Buzbee mentioned: “We have tried to substantiate the proper location. We by no means prompt that the situation was the Lotus membership. Our shopper was very particular and detailed in her description of the place she mentioned she was taken and by no means mentioned it was the Lotus Club.”
He added: “We will not speculate whether or not there was an after-after get together, as a result of once more she does not know.”
Among the girl’s allegations that would not be confirmed was how she arrived in New York that evening.
One of her attorneys supplied NBC News with the identify and date of delivery of the buddy she mentioned accompanied her, who would have been 20 years previous on the time. It seems that individual has since died. Attempts by NBC News to achieve the individual’s family had been unsuccessful.
This article was initially printed on NBCNews.com
