A California appeals court signalled during oral arguments that it is likely to uphold the dismissal of Jay-Z's extortion and defamation lawsuit against attorney Tony Buzbee. Buzbee had filed a short-lived 2024 lawsuit accusing the rapper, born Shawn Carter, of raping a 13-year-old girl alongside Sean "Diddy" Combs decades earlier; Jay-Z denied the claims and countersued, alleging Buzbee fabricated them for money and publicity. The panel's scepticism matters because it could bring a definitive end to one strand of Jay-Z's ongoing legal battle over the allegations.

The case had rested on a recorded interview in which the anonymous accuser, "Jane Doe," reportedly said the claims were false and that Buzbee had pressured her to lie, but a lower court judge ruled the recording inadmissible hearsay and dismissed the suit. On appeal, judges questioned the recording's provenance and reliability, while Buzbee's lawyer argued investigators had intimidated Doe into cooperating; Jay-Z's lawyer urged the court to allow further evidence discovery before any final ruling. The appellate court has taken the matter under advisement, and a written decision is pending. Separately, Jay-Z is still pursuing a related malicious prosecution suit against Buzbee and Doe in federal court, recently moved from Alabama to New York, with Buzbee due to file a motion to dismiss next month.