Interview Only: Stephen A and Attorney Ryan Smith break down alleged claims against Jay Z.

a private mediation to try to go through this. But the reason why jay Z reacts so strongly is it's kind of like, wait a second, this isn't a demand letter to pay a fine. This is a demand letter asking for some sort of legal action, asking for some sort of civil civil discourse about a potential sexual assault.

So for jay Z, this demand letter would have, if he said yes, put him in mediation and in his mind, opened him up for a discussion about whether or not he owes damages for something he says he didn't do. So a demand letter is fairly common for lawyers to send to each other asking for a certain particular legal action, But in this case, because of the explosive nature of the claims, you can understand why jay Z went off on Tony Buzzby. J Z.

that private. I want to have a discussion in mediation to sort this out. We can sort it out that way. The reason why jay Z would see it as extortion is you got to start from the perspective from jay Z of I didn't do this. So if you get a letter like that and you didn't do this, why would I do any sort of legal procedure. But when you think about the way jay Z's look at it, it's okay, I haven't been named in something, and if I don't do this mediation, what happens then I'm named.

I'm subject to public scrutiny. Now everybody believes that I did this thing that I said I didn't do, which, as you and I know, steven A, when somebody's name is put out there for a crime, a lot of times people believe it before they find out the facts. So for jay Z, it appears to be an extortion attempt because he's saying, look, you're just trying to do this to get me for money. If I don't come to mediation, then you're gonna expose me, which in a

sense did happen. His name got out there, and now in order to not do that, I've got to pay you money and go through this mediation. So from his perspective, it's an extortion attempt because if he doesn't cooperate with the mediation, then his name's out there unless he pays money in some way. That's why they qualify it as extortion.

What are we to make of that point that jay Z made, because it resonated with me Ryan from the standpoint that he was saying, Listen, if if this is crime, if this is a crime that happened, then this is so heinous.

it's up to prosecutors to prosecute that case. So it's not as if you just go in and say, hey, I'm gonna file a criminal charge against you, not how it works. Prosecutor would have to be able to take up the case. The other thing is, in the case like this, this all happened all the way back in two thousand, right, so this is over twenty years ago, and if a prosecutor is looking at a case like this, they're looking at what's the evidence, like, who are the witnesses.

This is one of the reasons why Jay z is actually requesting right now in a filing that the name be revealed of the Jane Doe here. He's trying to figure out, Okay, if you've made this claim, let's hear some witnesses, Let's try to see the evidence here. Let's try to let me try to get a sense of what my case would be here. But the real difficult part of this is the statute of limitations for first

degree rape in New York State. If this is a New York State case that right now is doesn't have a statute of limitations, back then depending on the charge, there could be a statute limitations, So it gets a little complicated there. But if this is a first degree forcible rate kind of case that Tony Buzby seems to be saying it is here, at least in these filings, charges could be a possibility. But filing a criminal complaint is different from prosecutors taking up that case and making

a criminal charge. Happened if the allegations are true.

involved in here. What do I mean by that? Well, there's another side of this if you look at it from the Jane Doe's perspective of is there the possibility for retribution? What would happen to that person if their name was revealed? That's one thing a judge would weigh. On Jay Z's side, They're going to weigh the public interest of it, is there something that requires this to be out there? Does it in some way help the

defendant build their case? So right now, I look at a case like this and I say it's an unknown because you just don't know how a judge is going to decide in this case. And we also, here's the big thing, stephen A. We don't know the evidence in the details here. What we have right now is a claim from someone from over twenty years ago that this happened.

Not saying it's not true, not saying the allegations aren't to be believed, just saying it's hard to know what's happening here until you have more evidence and more information out there.

have things like depositions that happen in those depositions. Jay Z is interviewed, The accuser, the person who's accusing him of the crime, is interviewed, and that's where things get very interesting. See, I look at a case like this and I think back to what we saw in the p did he case, the allegations that came out there, and I look back to what happened in that case. Allegations, Investigators started interviewing, people, started talking about different things, and

eventually reco charges were filed. Not saying jay Z is related to that in any way, but one thing I think jay Z has got to be concerned about is if this case goes forward those depositions, he's got to answer all kinds of questions under oath. If you lie in depositions, you face the threat of perjury, which is an offense, which is a criminal offense. So in those instances,

what becomes interesting is what's revealed there. This is one of the reasons why he has a criminal lawyer, not because we're saying, hey, he did something wrong, but you get a criminal lawyer in a civil case like this because of what could happen of where an investigation could lead you process a civil case you never know if authorities might be looking at that in some way, investigating that in some way to see if there's some other charge, to see if there's some charge that might need to

be brought. So that's where this thing gets very complicated. Yes, at some point he will learn the identity. But the question is once he learns that identity and those depositions happen, what happens next?

why he came to New York. And ultimately he was arrested, and he has been incost of rated and denied bail not one, not two, but three different times. That clearly is not the case here. Should jay Z be fearful that it could be the case? Is this the kind of thing that we're looking at down the line potentially?

with these free costs. I would not connect. I'd be loath right now to connect the P did he case with jay Z and for one really big reason and then other smaller reasons. The big reason is In the Diddy Combs case, they're arguing that he set up this entire criminal enterprise, and part of this enterprise were these free costs. That's not being suggested in the jay Z case.

The jay Z case is suggesting, at least the accusation is he was at this party that P. Diddy was throwing and that there was a sexual assault that occurred, and that jay Z committed it. Completely different circumstances, completely different situation. Do I know if it could go there and something could happen. We don't know at this point. As you said, we don't know enough information about that right now. But that's a big difference the other differences here.

You talked about should he be fearful, I would say there has to be concern. And the reason there has to be concern is and we talked about this when we talked about the Diddy case. We talked about the idea that there were all these people involved. Even in the jan and Dos case with jay Z, she claims that she runs out and nobody did anything. One of the things US attorneys said when they were doing the Diddy case was when they made that big announcement P

Diddy has been arrested. They made the point of our investigation is on going. They are not stopping. That was not the end of it. So why I think jay Z should be concerned. He's saying he didn't do anything, but and on its face, let's assume that's the case. Why he should be concerned is being involved in the orbit that is P Diddy being involved in the orbit of this situation. Being involved in the orbit of the claims that Jane do made piques the attention of investigators.

This is just how investigators think when they file a claim. When they see a claim like P Diddy and as expansive as that was, and they think about all the people that might have been involved or seen something or been there. They're trained to look at this and say who else might have been involved? Are there any of

their cases out there? So when they see this, if I'm his lawyer, I'm thinking, Okay, I've got to at least make sure he's not tied into that in any way, and I've got to at least expect investigators to maybe look at keep an ear keep an eye on, and maybe ask questions about whether there's any intersection in this case to that case. See It's an interesting difference there because it's not to say, oh, there's going to be a concern that he'll be involved in the ditty criminal enterprise.

It's more concern of investigators follow the trail of whatever evidence they find and whatever they hear and whatever they see, and what you have to wonder about and worry about. I think be concerned about if you're jay Z, is our investigators eventually going to ask questions in some way of me because of this case that's been filed against me.

to receive from an entity like the NFL. And number two, what kind of effect, if any at all, do you think will have on this ongoing situation?

the evidence. That would be the first thought. Perhaps there was some sort of discussion that happened after these claim surface, and roder Guell was made to feel that, hey, there's nothing to see here, this is something that's gonna go away. So maybe that was why they felt comfortable making that response saying I'm gonna stand by jay Z and keep

working with Rock Nation. But I gotta say I was surprised, just because usually we're used to seeing the NFL say, hey, if there's anything even a semblance of something that could tarnish our name and our brand in any way, we're gonna at least say, let's wait and see what happens here. We're gonna at least say no comment. We'll see as it comes. We'll we're just following whatever happens. Come of your second question.

And that was part of what you brought up here. Hey, just because I have money doesn't mean you can come at me for something that I'm saying I'm innocent for. But if you think about where maybe the Jane Doe's lawyer is coming from, If you think about it of hey, you've got finances, you did something I'm coming after you,

maybe that makes him continue to press the case. Maybe that makes him continue to say, hey, I'm not giving up on this, not just for money, but more from the sense of especially when you talk about Tony Busby, more from the sense of, this is a person who says, hey, I'm fighting on behalf of the unknowns against the superstars who think they can do things and just get away with it. I'm the person who's going to bring those

people to justice. So the more that jay Z has people stand by him, obviously for him, that's a good thing. That bolsters his claim of hey, I've done nothing wrong in the court of public opinion. But I think for Jane Go and her attorney, the sense is, hey, this is a person in our opinion because we believe the allegations are true. There's a person who thinks he can do what he wants and won't be held accountable, and

we're not going to stop until there's accountability. I tell you, this is a complicated case where we got to wait for a lot of information to come out.

laws have changed, society has changed. A heightened level of sensitivity has really kicked up as well, even in these times where I think that people are far more understanding and men have no choice but to be far more receptive to these things that women have been telling us, that they have been enduring and experiencing for quite a long time. What are we to make of it being coming to light twenty four years later, these allegians.

that's part of the problem of this case. It happened so long ago. Depending on if prosecutors took up a case, it could affect whether or not the statute of the limitations applies. But even in the law is what I'm saying, even in the law, our way of viewing cases like this has changed drastically. But in the public, I think is where it really matters. Stephen A. We look at cases like this and we say, people who are in power who did bad things to others have to be

held accountable. I want to say it again, that is not me saying anything about jay Z. What that's saying is when you talk about authorities, there is not some sense of, hey, this happened twenty four years ago, not a lot of evidence, nothing to see here, We're just going to move on and prosecute cases from today. There is a real sense on behalf of law enforcement and authorities and courts and everyone to say, hey, these cases don't go away because they're old, if the statute of

limitation doesn't apply, and they can be hurt. And when you talk about investigations, this is what I thought was so interesting about the Didty case, and I think resonates throughout the entertainment industry. I think investigators are now looking at cases like this, the Ditty case and beyond and saying, when we get a sense of wrongdoing, we are not letting that go. We are not just letting that pass by and keeping an eye out out for it and

will there be enough evidence. No, we're going to move on. This is we are going to doggedly pursue something where we have a good faith belief that there is a crime, and it doesn't matter if it's old, and it doesn't matter if it might not fit in the particular context of what you might think the crime might be on its face. We're going to look deeper. See if there's some enterprise here, see if there's something else going on. Stephen A. I can't even tell you haven't been a

lawyer for well over two decades. It is a massive, massive shift in the way we look at survivors of sexual assault. Massive because before I think people thought, Hey, if I don't say something quickly, I don't do something quickly, I don't have a chance. And even if I do, my name's going to be dragged to the mud. I'm going to be tortured through this entire process. Even in then I might not get justice. Now we live in

a different world. Now these cases are being heard. There is a sense on behalf of law enforcement, judges, others to say, let's hear the evidence, let's see what's here. Let's try to figure out these cases. And in a sense, we are way more as a society, both in the courts and in public opinion to say people who make claims are to be believed. Let us hear it, let us figure it out, and let us hear the full story.