Jay-Z’s lawyer warned by judge over ‘inappropriate’ actions as Sean Combs faces fresh lawsuit
The judge overseeing the case of a woman who says she was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 has criticised the “inappropriate” behaviour of Jay-Z’s lawyer.
In a written order, Judge Analisa Torres hit out at Alex Spiro for what she described as his combative motions and “inflammatory language” against the plaintiff’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee.
Mr Spiro – who has been acting for Jay-Z for around three weeks – previously called for the Alabama woman’s identity to be revealed. She is currently identified only as “Jane Doe”, a US legal term to say she is anonymous.
The Manhattan judge has said she can proceed anonymously at this stage but may be required to reveal her identity at a later date.
Combs remains in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
He is facing a wave of sexual assault lawsuits, many of which were filed by Texas lawyer Mr Buzbee, who says his firm represents more than 150 people, both men and women, alleging sexual abuse and exploitation by Combs.
The lawsuits allege many individuals were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida after being given drugged drinks.
Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Mr Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr Combs”.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Sean Carter, previously said in a statement that Mr Buzbee was trying to blackmail him to settle the plaintiff’s allegations.
Mr Buzbee said in an email that his firm does not comment on court rulings.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was named alongside Carter in the lawsuit. Pic: AP
In her lawsuit, the woman claims Jay-Z and Sean Combs raped her when she was 13 after the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.
Both men strenuously deny the allegations.
Mr Spiro has previously asked the judge to dismiss Jay-Z from the woman’s lawsuit.
Citing an interview the plaintiff did with Sky’s US partner NBC News, Mr Spiro wrote that the broadcast revealed “glaring inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in the plaintiff’s story.
The woman has admitted inconsistencies, saying she had “made some mistakes”, but standing by her allegations overall.
Judge Torres wrote in her order on Thursday that Mr Spiro had submitted a “litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff’s lawyer, many of them expounding on the purported ‘urgency’ of this case”.
She added: “Carter’s lawyer’s relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client. The court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it.”
She said Mr Spiro – who had accused the plaintiff’s lawyer of having a “chronic inability to follow the rules” – had failed to follow the rules himself. She warned him against future “unacceptable” behaviour.
Sky News has contacted Mr Spiro for comment.
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There are ‘hundreds’ more
Sean Combs faces fresh lawsuit
Meanwhile, in a new lawsuit filed on 20 December, a woman has accused Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2006 at a New York party, which she attended after winning a radio station contest.
The woman, who was 23 at the time, said she felt sick and fell unconscious after being served two premade drinks by waitresses, later waking up in hospital with a ripped shirt, missing underwear and shoes, and no recollection of how she got there.
The suit said the woman was left with pain in her vagina for around a week, which she believed was from rough intercourse.
She also said an unknown woman with a New York number later called her, allegedly threatening her to keep quiet.
Combs’ attorney has called the allegations “pure fiction”.
As well as Combs, the woman is also suing Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings, which Combs founded; Atlantic Records, which she said facilitated the event; Mike Savas, a promoter for Atlantic at the time; Delta Airlines, which flew her to New York; KKJamz 105.3, the radio station she said held the contest; and the Roger Smith Hotel, where she stayed.
Ten “John and Jane Does” are also listed as defendants.
President Trump has signed an order banning people from 12 countries from entering the US.
He said Sunday’s attack in Colorado had shown “the extreme dangers” of “foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come as temporary visitors and overstay their visas”.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” the president said.
The countries affected are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The White House said some had a “significant terrorist presence” and accused others of poor screening for dangerous individuals, as well as not accepting deported citizens.
People from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will face partial restrictions.
Mr Trump’s proclamation said America must ensure people entering don’t have “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” – and don’t support terror groups.
Protests took place when Mr Trump announced his first travel ban in 2017. Pic: Reuters
The move echoes a controversial and chaotic order enacted eight years ago during his first term, when he banned people from predominately Muslim countries.
The countries initially targeted then were Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
President Trump said on Thursday that policy was a “key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil”.
His new list notably removes Syria after Mr Trump met the country’s leader recently on a trip to the Middle East.
Athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics will also be exempt, as will others such as permanent US residents and Afghans with special immigrant visas.
The list was put together after the president asked homeland security officials and the director of national intelligence to compile a report on countries whose citizens could pose a threat.
The ban takes effect from 9 June – but countries could be removed or added.
The proclamation states it will be reviewed within 90 days, and every 180 days after, to decide if it should be “continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented”.
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President Trump’s first travel restrictions in 2017 were criticised by opponents and human rights groups as a “Muslim ban”.
It led to some chaotic scenes, including tourists, students and business travellers prevented from boarding planes – or held at US airports when they landed.
Mr Trump denied it was Islamophobic despite calling for a ban on Muslims entering America in his first presidential campaign.
It faced legal challenges and was modified until the Supreme Court upheld a third version in June 2018, calling it “squarely within the scope of presidential authority”.
US
Putin ‘very strongly’ vowed revenge against Ukraine for drone strike on airbases, Donald Trump says
Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin “very stongly” told him he “will have to respond” to Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russia’s airfields.
More than a hundred Ukrainian drones were deployed inside Russia over the weekend, destroying more than 40 warplanes in an attack Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “will undoubtedly be in history books”.
Posting on Truth Social on Wednesday, the US president said that he discussed the attack with Mr Putin during an hour and 15 minute long phone call.
“It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace,” he wrote after their first call since 19 May.
“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.”
Read our Q&A: Would Putin go nuclear after Ukraine’s daring attacks?
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Will Putin go nuclear?
The Russian president’s foreign affairs adviser added Mr Trump told Mr Putin that the US did not have advance notice of the operation.
Analysis: Putin is playing the victim to get the US back onside
An aide to Mr Putin also told reporters that they vowed to stay in constant contact, with the Russian president telling Mr Trump that recent talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul were useful.
The US president added that he and Mr Putin also discussed “the fact that time is running out on Iran’s decision pertaining to nuclear weapons, which must be made quickly,” before accusing Tehran of “slow-walking their decision”.
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New Ukraine drone attack video analysed
Russia ‘giving the finger’ – Zelenskyy
Later, Mr Zelenskyy, in a social media post, called for more pressure on Russia to end the war, saying: “Many have spoken with Russia at various levels.
“But none of these talks have brought a reliable peace, or even stopped the war. Unfortunately, Putin feels impunity.”
The Ukrainian leader added that “with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world – to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it”.
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It comes after Russia’s foreign minister claimed that Mr Zelenskyy refused a proposal for a pause lasting two to three days to pick up the bodies of dead servicemen.
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Earlier this week, the Ukrainian president said the proposal was not “a real ceasefire”.
He added: “I think they’re idiots because a ceasefire is meant to prevent people from being killed.”
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
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How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
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