Sexual assault lawsuit against Jay-Z, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs dropped by accuser

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -An anonymous woman who accused Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping her in 2000 when she was 13 dismissed her civil lawsuit on Friday against the hip-hop moguls.

A filing in federal court in Manhattan said the plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe, voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning she cannot bring it again.

Tony Buzbee, a lawyer for the woman, declined to comment.

Combs is in a Brooklyn jail awaiting a scheduled May 5 criminal trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

He still faces dozens of other civil lawsuits by women and men, including many represented by Buzbee’s firm, who accused him of sexual assault and other misconduct.

Combs has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case, and maintained his innocence in all of the cases.

The Doe lawsuit was the only one to name Carter as a defendant, and he had vociferously denied the woman’s claims.

“Today is a victory,” Carter said in a statement posted online by his entertainment company Roc Nation. “The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed. This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere.”

Carter said the case also caused trauma for his wife Beyonce, and their children.

In a joint statement, Combs’ lawyers maintained that their client has never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone.

“We will continue to fight these baseless claims and hold those responsible,” the lawyers said. “This is just the first of many that will not hold up in a court of law.”

Doe accused Carter and Combs of raping her at an afterparty following the 2000 MTV Music Video Awards.

She said the alleged incident caused depression that led to post-traumatic stress disorder and her being “largely withdrawn from society.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Will Dunham)