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Jay-Z's Lawyer Eyes Legal Loophole to Throw Out Rape Lawsuit | TMZ Live
TMZ
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12/31/2024
Jay-Z's attorney says there are a bunch of holes in the rape lawsuit against the rapper ... and he's looking to have the case thrown out.
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Transcript
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00:00
Jay-Z is gunning to get this rape lawsuit that was filed against him dismissed, and
00:09
he has multiple reasons for doing it.
00:11
You know that a woman claims when she was 13 years old Jay-Z raped her.
00:18
That's the allegation.
00:19
He just vigorously denies this and says it is not true.
00:26
This has hurt him and his family, and he has vowed to fight this and win.
00:31
Well, his lawyer, Alex Spiro, you may remember Alex who got the case against Alec Baldwin
00:38
dismissed in the Russ shooting, Alex Spiro is representing Jay-Z, has for a long time.
00:44
He now has a game plan to get this case dismissed, at least if he has his way.
00:51
And it starts with a law that was passed that would allow somebody under these circumstances
00:57
to file a lawsuit.
01:00
He is saying, Alex Spiro, that the law only applies to New York City.
01:07
And also the law was passed after this alleged rape would have occurred.
01:13
Again, he denies the rape occurred, but based on the date the woman claims it happened,
01:19
it happened before this law was passed.
01:23
And in America, you can't prosecute somebody for a crime that wasn't a crime when they
01:31
allegedly committed it.
01:34
Ex post facto.
01:35
Listen to you.
01:36
And statute of limitations.
01:37
He's a lawyer.
01:38
And if you're the lawyer, you've got to make those arguments.
01:40
And they're making it.
01:42
But it doesn't stop there.
01:44
According to this, what we know Alex Spiro is going to do, he's saying that forgetting
01:51
about that part, the law would only cover New York City.
01:56
And when you look at her complaint and what she's alleging, what Jay-Z is saying through
02:03
Alex Spiro is that couldn't have taken place in the city.
02:08
And therefore, if it happened outside the boundaries of New York City, even if it happened,
02:13
which he said it didn't, you can't use the law to prosecute him.
02:16
Yes.
02:17
This is a very strange law in that it was passed by a municipality, not by a state or
02:20
obviously by the federal government.
02:21
It was passed just within New York City.
02:23
And to the point you were making earlier, it only relates to cases, according to Alex
02:27
Spiro, that occur after the law was passed in December of 2000.
02:33
The allegations here are that it happened at a large white house with a U-shaped driveway,
02:38
which Jay-Z is arguing, Alex Spiro is arguing, couldn't have been in New York City.
02:42
And that it allegedly happened months before the law went into effect in December 2020.
02:47
So on those two grounds are saying, we're going to file a motion to dismiss.
02:50
We expect the court to dismiss it.
02:52
I got to say, Jason, if he's right on that, I mean, there might be something to it.
02:58
But I don't, I don't think you dismiss the, I don't think you dismiss it now, though.
03:01
I think that's an argument that you make in court as to where it happened.
03:05
Well, they're going to be in court.
03:06
I mean, I think you make it before there's a trial.
03:09
If you're saying that he shouldn't be prosecuted, I think those are facts that would be hashed
03:12
out at trial because you have to depose people.
03:14
You have to do discovery as opposed to dismissing.
03:17
Not if the law doesn't apply.
03:19
In other words, I agree.
03:20
I'm saying location.
03:21
I'm saying location.
03:22
Yes.
03:23
But if the law doesn't apply, it seems to me you do it now, right?
03:26
Yeah.
03:27
I'm really with attorney Oppenheim here because that's a very good point that the issue they
03:31
want to file a motion to dismiss and the issue of whether or not it was in New York City
03:34
or not is something that requires fact discovery and that cannot be decided at the early stages
03:40
of the trial.
03:41
All the way through summary judgment, which could take months or even longer.
03:46
That's true.
03:47
That's true.
03:48
So there's an issue here.
03:49
Yeah.
03:50
That's true with respect to where it is.
03:51
But the timing of it, if the law wasn't in effect when she says this happened, that can
03:57
go before a judge right now.
03:59
And if the judge says you're right, I think it gets dismissed.
04:03
Yeah.
04:04
It would definitely get dismissed if that was the case.
04:06
Obviously, we need to see how that plays out and what Tony Busby, the attorney for the
04:10
accuser, what he says in response to this.
04:13
Well, my understanding is Busby said, well, these are technicalities, but they're really
04:18
not technicalities.
04:19
Well, and the law is technicalities too.
04:20
Right.
04:21
I mean, that's the law.
04:22
And if they're right about this, I don't know, Jason, I don't see the rebuttal on it.
04:28
There is no rebuttal.
04:29
Yeah.
04:30
I agree.
04:31
I don't know what his argument is going to be, but the last refuge of a lawyer is to
04:33
say, well, it's all technicalities.
04:35
Technicalities, everything is a technicality.
04:36
You win and lose cases on technicalities.
04:38
So if the law is what it is, they're going to lose.
04:41
Hi, I'm Kimberly from Florida.
04:44
Hi.
04:45
I genuinely don't believe that if someone is telling the truth, that they should be
04:51
looking for loopholes, whether it was two days ago or 20 years ago.
04:58
The truth should matter, whether it be a statute of limitations.
05:02
However, I do believe that Jay-Z's lawyers are working so hard because they genuinely
05:08
believe him.
05:09
At this point, his public image is ruined.
05:12
His career is stained forever.
05:14
And I think they should be working this hard to clear his name.
05:18
I'm not a lawyer, but I just don't trust Busbee or anything he does.
05:23
I just don't know how legitimate Busbee is.
05:26
I want to ask you something, because the first point you made.
05:30
If you were on the freeway and the speed limit was 65 miles an hour and you were driving
05:36
at 65, and then a month later the law changes and it says you can only go 55, and then
05:44
all of a sudden they give you a ticket, even though you knew that the speed limit was 65
05:49
when you were driving.
05:50
Do you think that's fair?
05:51
No, not at all.
05:54
Then it's the same thing as what Jay-Z is arguing, which is there was no law making
06:02
whatever it was a crime a crime when this supposedly happened.
06:05
I agree with her on a moral level, but from a legal perspective, I agree with you on that analogy.
06:12
And that's the law.
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