The prominent Texas-based lawyer taking on Sean Diddy Combs, and now Jay-Z, in sexual abuse lawsuits has a dark past of his own, DailyMail.com has learned.
Tony Buzbee, who represents more than 100 people with sexual misconduct allegations against Combs, also recently found himself at war with Jay-Z after dragging the hip-hop mogul into an anonymous complaint accusing the two rappers of sexually assaulting to a 13 year old boy. old girl
But unearthed records, including a teary-eyed mugshot, reveal that Buzbee once faced legal trouble when he was arrested for DWI in 2016, the National Enquirer first reported.
DailyMail.com has confirmed that the prominent lawyer was arrested by Houston police on March 31 of that year and charged with driving while intoxicated. He was later released after posting $500 bail.
More recently, the prominent personal injury lawyer, who has handled previous civil lawsuits against other public figures and celebrities, including NFL star Deshaun Watson and rapper Travis Scott, has become embroiled in a public legal dispute that has seen to light more of their skeletons. of carpentry.
The case was dismissed by the Harris County District Attorney’s office after Buzbee completed a year-long educational program in just eight months.
In October, Buzbee announced that it represented about 120 peoplemen and women, with allegations of sexual misconduct against Combs.
Among the anonymous lawsuits is one from an accuser, identified as Jane Doe, who claims sHe was assaulted when she was 13 at a party after the awards show, which took place on September 7, 2000 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The lawsuit was initially filed in the Southern District of New York last October against Combs, and on Sunday the lawsuit was refiled that identified the rapper, whose real name is Shawn Carter.
Tony Buzbee, who represents more than 100 people with sexual misconduct allegations against Sean Diddy Combs, appears in a teary-eyed mugshot from his 2016 DWI bust in Texas.
Buzbee has recently found himself at war with Jay-Z, as well as Diddy, after dragging the Roc Nation founder into an anonymous complaint accusing the two rappers of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Jay-Z has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and Combs, who is already behind bars facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, has also denied the rape allegation.
Jay-Z issued a statement not only dismissing the allegation but trashing the reputation and integrity of the Houston personal injury attorney who has been hailed as one of the most successful trial attorneys in Texas, accusing him of extortion.
“My attorney received an attempted blackmail, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee,” Carter wrote, claiming that Buzbee was filing frivolous lawsuits against the rich and famous, but offering to drop them in exchange for a fee.
“What I had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,” the rapper wrote.
‘No sir, it had the opposite effect!’ he added. ‘It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are VERY publicly. So no, I won’t give you EVEN A RED CENT!!’
Combs, who is already behind bars facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, has also denied the rape allegation.
Both sides (Jay-Z plus his attorney Alex Spiro and Buzbee) have accused the other of using coercive and underhanded tactics.
Team Carter alleges that Buzbee added Jay-Z’s name to a lawsuit first filed in October in revenge after he refused to pay his accuser an “exorbitant” sum, leading Carter to sue Buzbee. for extortion in Los Angeles last month.
Spiro also claims that Buzbee’s firm may be pressuring potential clients to make false accusations in lawsuits, an allegation the attorney denies.
Buzbee denies any extortion attempts and dismisses Team Carter’s claims as a “silly show” meant to distract from the rape allegation.
Buzbee shared a photo of himself in uniform on Instagram on Sunday saying he is still the Marine platoon commander he once was.
Buzbee claimed that people had been harassing him and his family.
Since leaving the Marine Corps and founding his own law firm in 2000, Buzbee, 56, has amassed an enormous fortune. He happily posts photos on social media of luxurious vacations, smoking cigars, decked out in expensive jewelry and on his private jet.
Meanwhile, Jay-Z has compounded the abuse with a series of personal attacks against Buzbee, a former US Marine.
‘You claim to be a marine?!’ the rapper mocked last week. “Marines are known for their courage, you have no courage or dignity.”
Jay-Z has also called Buzbee a “deplorable human being” and – possibly more hurtful to a successful lawyer who likes to act – “an ambulance chaser in a cheap suit.”
But Buzbee, who has made a fortune suing major corporations and celebrities, enjoys the battle.
Since leaving the Marine Corps and founding his own law firm in 2000, Buzbee, 56, who boasts a large shark tattoo on his arm, has amassed an enormous fortune.
And unlike other class action specialists, he is not inhibited by the enormous sums his job earns him, happily posting photos on social media of lavish vacations, smoking cigars, decked out in expensive jewelry, and on his private jet.
He also owns a yacht and a 7,000-acre ranch in Texas with his second wife, Frances, 24 years his junior, and has homes in New York and Montana.
Rap moguls Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, left, and Jay-Z attended the 2015 NBA All-Star basketball game together in New York
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, was named in a civil lawsuit that accused him of raping a 13-year-old girl with Combs in 2000. He issued a statement denying the allegations.
His four children, all now adults, come from his first wife Zoe.
Buzbee reportedly gave Frances, the daughter of a wealthy Galveston family, a farm as a wedding gift and named it after her. Now he runs it as an animal rescue center.
In 2022, Buzbee put the five-bedroom Tudor-style Houston mansion he had shared with Zoe on the market for $27.5 million, a record for the city and just nine years after the couple bought it for $14 million. .
“People always say that trial lawyers are very liberal, but I firmly believe in capitalism,” he told the New York Times in 2010.
One of his first big victories came in 2001, when he represented offshore drilling workers who claimed their employers had suppressed their wages.
Les won a $75 million judgment against the drilling company Transocean Ltd, and the $18 million that came to his company in fees allowed Buzbee to begin amassing a fabulous collection of sports cars.
Oil provided him with another lucrative windfall in 2005, when he sued BP on behalf of 179 clients over an explosion at a Texas refinery that killed 15 people and injured 170. The oil giant paid out more than $2 billion and Buzbee estimated he made nearly $100 million from the explosion. litigation.
He again led the charge against the U.K. oil company five years later when BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf in 2010, dumping 134 million gallons of crude oil into the sea.
Buzbee sued the oil giant on behalf of 10,000 people and companies who said they were affected by the spill. BP paid billions in settlements.
More recently, it has attracted increased attention for high-profile celebrity cases. In 2021, Buzbee filed a $750 million lawsuit against rapper Travis Scott on behalf of at least 125 victims of that year’s Astroworld music festival in Houston, in which 10 people were killed and hundreds were injured in a large crowd during Scott’s presentation.
Buzbee settled several subsequent lawsuits with Scott and Live Nation, which produced the show.
This year he represented Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman when she was accused of killing two brothers in a high-speed hit-and-run. He was heavily criticized for trying to frame Grossman’s lover, former MLB star Scott Erickson. Grossman was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.