Who Is Tony Buzbee? The Texas Lawyer Who Jay-Z Accused of ‘Blackmail’

Tony Buzbee, the Texas-based attorney representing over 120 accusers of Sean “Diddy” Combs, has a new celebrity target in his sights.

Jay-Z (real name: Shawn Carter) was named over the weekend as one of three allegedly complicit celebrity participants in the rape of a 13-year-old girl at a post-MTV Video Music Awards party in 2000. The suit, first filed in October, originally only named Combs and referred to the other two celebrities present with pseudonyms. Buzbee, who represents the plaintiff in the suit, said that he’d requested a “mediation” with Jay-Z before naming him in the suit. The identity of a third female celebrity remains unknown.

According to The Blast, Jay wasn’t the only high-profile person Buzbee sent “demand letters” to, requesting that they settle out of court or risk being named in a lawsuit. Weeks before Jay-Z was named in the suit against Combs, Buzbee and his firm were sued for extortion by an unnamed John Doe, who we now know was Jay-Z himself.

Buzbee took to social media to respond to the extortion claim in November, writing that the “frivolous” suit was a “last-ditch attempt to stop me from revealing names in public lawsuits.” According to Buzbee, Jay-Z first denied “being the one who sued me and my firm,” before the rapper’s identity was confirmed in Jay-Z’s new court filing.

“Since I sent the letter on [his client’s] behalf, Mr. Carter has not only sued me, but he has tried to bully and harass me and this plaintiff,” he also wrote, adding that the letter “never demanded a penny from him,” but only requested “a confidential mediation.”

In Jay-Z’s statement vehemently denying the lawsuit’s allegations, he claims that he and his lawyer “have done a bit of research on” Buzbee and found a “network of conspiracy theorists [and] fake physics.”

The Daily Beast reached out to Buzbee for comment but did not receive a response.

Though Buzbee wrote on social media that “No amount of money was included in the demand letters [and] no threats were made,” Jay-Z classified the letter as “a blackmail attempt.” In addition to calling him a “deplorable human” with “a pattern of these types of theatrics,” Jay-Z made sure to throw in that Buzbee is an “ambulance chaser in a cheap suit.”

In response, Buzbee called Jay-Z’s accusation of blackmail “stupid and laughable.”

Here’s what we do know about him.

He’s won some big cases—and big money

Buzbee has been part of so many major cases, there are actually too many to list. The New York Times Magazine called him “one of the most successful trial lawyers in Texas (and thus the country)” in 2010, in a profile exploring his role in holding oil companies accountable following 2009’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In the entertainment industry, he’s often helped accusers seek monetary damages based on sexual assault allegations—but he’s also well known for cases like the one in which he represented victims suing Travis Scott, Live Nation, and others, for the Astroworld tragedy.

He’s perhaps best known in some circles for the millions in settlements he won from BP and other corporations for the oil spill. However, when Texas’ attorney general Ken Paxton faced impeachment over allegations he’d abused his office last year, Buzbee represented him, securing an acquittal. It’s safe to say he’s no stranger to the spotlight.

He was sued for assault himself this year.

According to TMZ, Buzbee was accused of assault in a lawsuit filed by a female former client in early November. They cite a source who claimed that Buzbee flew into a “fit of rage” and shoved a champagne flute at her, which the woman alleges chipped her tooth.

The source also claimed that Buzbee cost the ex-client millions of dollars while repping her in her divorce case, so she’s also alleging malpractice. Buzbee denied the claims, calling them “crazy fiction.”

He lost two runs for elected office as a Democrat—and once hosted a fundraiser for Trump

Buzbee had attempted to parlay his successes against major companies and public figures to public office in Texas, where he ran for Mayor in 2019 and Houston City Council in 2023, both times as a Democrat. However, as the 2023 city council race grew more contentious, Buzbee attempted to get one over on his Republican opponent Mary Nan Huffman by “accusing Huffman of having supported the Black Lives Matter movement,” according to The Texas Tribune.

The paper also notes that Buzbee’s party affiliation became an issue, when, as the chair of the Galveston Democratic Party, he hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump in 2016.

Last year, Buzbee launched a local product called HoBuzz—a non-alcoholic, THC-infused seltzer drink that was marketed as “a nod to all those that believe in America and those who fought for her.” It featured flavor names like “The Washington” and “The Patriot” before the brand died less than a year after its launch.

He has aggressive ways of “forcing” settlements

Speaking to TMZ, Buzbee showed little ability to defend himself from claims that he would “put enough embarrassing things in a complaint or say you’re going to” in order to “force a settlement” with high-profile people, as TMZ’s Harvey Levin put it to him. To the accusation, Buzbee responded, “It’s a fair point.”

He added, “We always attempt, or make an attempt, to resolve these cases without the filing of a lawsuit. That’s just what we try to do,” he also said.

Buzbee has an extensive enough history for Jay-Z and his team to mine for dirt, which the rapper has threatened to reveal in defense of his “wife and children,” he said in his statement, careful not to actually name his megastar wife Beyoncé.

And as Jay implores “either dismissal of the allegations or disclosure of the Plaintiff’s identity,” this saga isn’t likely to end soon.