This morning, rap mogul Jay-Z is denying allegations he sexually assaulted a 13 year old girl alongside rapper Sean Diddy Combs. That civil lawsuit, filed against Combs in October was amended Sunday to include Jay-Z. The accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, says she was sexually assaulted by both men at a video music awards afterparty in 2000.
In a blistering statement, Jay-Z accuses Jane Doe's attorney of trying to blackmail him. He said further quote, these allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one. Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away.
Would you not agree? He added my only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where friends will see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims and explain the cruelty and greed of people.
Joining us now, Joey Jackson, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. There's a lot to unpack here. Joey, I want to start with just the statement from Jay-Z, which is so forceful in its denial.
I just read a teeny part of it. It's long where he says that they should file a criminal complaint. Is that even possible at this point?
So based on the allegations, Jessica, good morning. Good to see you. I think that it could.
It certainly could be. Why do I say that? Now, he of course, is more than annoyed would be an understatement.
He has a family and he has a lot to protect, including his brand. But to the extent that he's saying, hey, come after me criminally, that could be likely. Why do I say that?
Because rape in New York. And what's alleged in this complaint is forcible compulsion. What that means in English is that it's saying that he held her down, raped her.
And that, of course, the allegation. Allegation is that Mr Combs did the same thing. And so if those facts are actually accurate, it would require an investigation by prosecutors.
And if true, right. You could pursue it criminally. Now, with respect to evidentiary value, yes.
It happened 24 years ago, right? More than 24 years ago. But in the allegations, there's a few things.
Number one, that allegation that another celebrity was present at the time. Right. In addition to other people.
Number two, there's the claim by the victim, right, that she left, that she went and she was seen by a gas attendant who saw her in distress. Number three, that she phone called her dad, who showed up the 13 year old and now removed her. So civil complaint simply allegations need to be proven in a court of law.
But if true, it could rise to the level of criminality. And, you know, we'll see what happens if the D. A.
looks and investigates. So what happens now? So what happens now is, is this is simply a civil complaint.
And in a civil complaint, it goes to the technical legal process. Now the distinction, Jessica, between civil and criminal, of course, is that civil is for monetary damages, right. The system can only reward you with money.
There's allegations that this 13 year old is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, suffered depression, etc. so now you go to fact finding right before that, just briefly, there was a demand letter sent. And a demand letter is a letter being sent by a lawyer saying, hey, I don't have to sue you.
We can sit, we can mediated. If we reach an agreement. It never sees the light of day.
J's saying, I don't care about your demand letter. I look at it as blackmail. You want to sue me?
Sue me? You want to look at this criminally? Look at it criminally.
But it will go to the fact finding process if a trial is necessary to determine the facts, that's what will happen. But it will be deemed civil. No indication at this point as to whether or not any criminal investigation will ensue as a result of this.
Yeah, and Jay-Z came back incredibly forcefully against these allegations and really singled out that attorney as well for for being, I'm paraphrasing here, but greedy, saying he's out to get money and calling that letter essentially blackmail. Yeah. And and and in addition to that, Jessica also suing the attorney, saying he's intimidating him, harassing him, etc.
. Now demand letters are not new. What lawyers do is they send them out as a matter of protocol and practice so that you can expedite the process.
At the same time, there are certain ethical standards that you have to use, and you have to have a good faith, factual belief that this is true. Now, you can argue this complaint was filed in October, right? Could have mentioned Jay-Z then you didn't.
Why it was amended now to include him. Are the factual assertions true of a fact or fiction? Is it a money grab or not?
All of that will be litigated in a court of law. But according to Jay-Z, this never happened is pure fiction. It is a money grab and he's fighting for his name, reputation, and certainly innocence and justice in his view, which is he didn't have anything to do with.
Yeah. And you touch on my point to that. I wanted to ask you about which was that this was an amended this was an amendment to this already existing lawsuit.
What are people to take away from that? The fact that they're coming back and adding to this now with the specific name. Yeah.
You know Jessica. So it depends it that's also come and you could amend lawsuits. Right.
As a matter of course. And you do to include certain factual allegations. The interesting thing to me in terms of your question and the takeaway, if you had this information about Jay-Z, it happened allegedly in September of 2000.
Why not included in the original complaint what happened between October and now that necessitated you putting in? And it's a question of credibility. Was he a celebrity?
A right, as was noted in the October complaint, is this pure fiction? And what's interesting in the complaint is he really that is, the lawyer tries to tie Jay-Z to Mr Combs in so many ways. Right.
Birds of a feather is the argument that he's making. You can make that argument. You need the facts to sustain it.
Let's see if they come up with any facts. All right. We will see.
All right. Julie Jackson, thanks so much.
