Year: 2024

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In escalating legal feud, Tony Buzbee files lawsuit against Roc Nation, Jay-Z lawyers – USA TODAY

The legal feud between rapper Jay-Z and celebrity lawyer Tony Buzbee escalated Wednesday with the filing of yet another lawsuit.
The attorney’s Buzbee Law Firm filed a suit against Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, as well as lawyer Marcy Croft and law firm Quinn Emanuel, accusing all three of violating various Texas state laws by allegedly offering a former client money in exchange for suing Buzbee’s firm.
This suit, filed in Harris County, Texas, punctuates a growing dispute between Buzbee, who represents many of the accusers in the flurry of rape cases against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Jay-Z, who is accused in one such suit of assaulting a minor alongside Combs.
Marcy Croft works with Team Roc, Roc Nation’s philanthropic arm. Quinn Emanual’s firm is representing Jay-Z in both Buzbee’s original case against Combs and the rapper in New York and the countersuit filed by Jay-Z in Los Angeles court.
“Tony Buzbee has now conjured up fantastical allegations against me and my firm — well-known corruption fighters — in a desperate attempt to distract from his mounting legal woes.  We look forward to addressing these false allegations and having them dismissed,” Marcy Croft shared in a statement with USA TODAY Wednesday.
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Roc Nation echoed that sentiment, sharing in their own statement to USA TODAY: “Tony Buzbee’s baloney lawsuit against Roc Nation is nothing but another sham. It’s a pathetic attempt to distract and deflect attention. This sideshow won’t change the ultimate outcome and true justice will be served soon.”
Buzbee announced the newest suit, brought on behalf of a former client of his firm, Wednesday with a post on Instagram. The filings allege that agents for the lawyers posed as employees of the state of Texas, “flashed fake badges” and offered the client up to $10,000 to sue the Buzbee Law Firm. The funding for the alleged “conspiracy” came from Roc Nation, the suit argues.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’alleged drug mule’s criminal case dropped
The lawyer, known for taking on high-profile cases, offered as evidence an alleged transcript of a call between the defendants and Buzbee’s former client in which they offered to pay him.
“This illegal conduct has happened more than two dozen times to date and has resulted in two utterly frivolous cases against the firm,” Buzbee wrote in the post and in a statement shared with USA TODAY.
Buzbee was sued in November by an unnamed “high-profile” celebrity for “shamelessly attempting to extort exorbitant sums from him.” Jay-Z has since come forward as that celebrity.
“This conduct was specifically targeted at our firm so we would not pursue cases related to the Diddy litigation. LET ME BE CLEAR: we will not be bullied or intimidated,” he wrote. “The Defendants overstepped, got sloppy, and stupidly got caught in their illegal scheme on tape.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Quinn Emanuel for comment.
After being ensnared in the continuously growing legal minefield facing Combs, Jay-Z vigorously denied the accusations against him and took aim at Buzbee specifically. “I have no idea how you have come to be such a horrible human Mr. Buzbee,” the “Empire State of Mind” rapper wrote in a statement shared at the time, “but I promise you I have seen your kind many times over.”
Jay-Z’s response to rape allegationshocked. Our reaction matters, too.
Going on the offensive, lawyers for Jay-Z sent a letter to the judge in the New York case last week accusing Buzbee and his associates of pressuring clients to include Combs in their accusations.
“We don’t pressure people nor do we need to. What we have done is reject potential cases from people we find to not be credible,” Buzbee shared in a statement with USA TODAY at the time.
Jay-Z is accused in a civil suit of taking turns with Combs in raping the aforementioned minor, who said she was 13 when the alleged assault took place, at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in September 2000.
Combs and Jay Z’s accuser has since come forward publicly, acknowledging discrepancies in her story but that the accusation stands. The alleged victim said her father picked her up from the party where she says she was assaulted, but he denied that claim. She also claimed she talked to a celebrity at the event, but the celebrity said she was not in New York at the time the party took place.
“You should never let what somebody else did ruin or run your life. I just hope I can give others the strength to come forward like I came forward,” the woman, now 38, told NBC News.
This weekend’s “investigative report proves this ‘attorney’ Buzbee filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame. This incident didn’t happen and yet he filed it in court and doubled down in the press. True Justice is coming,” Jay-Z shared in a statement via representatives Saturday, adding that “this was over before it began” and “this 1-800 lawyer doesn’t realize it yet.” 
When the sprawling case against Combs kicked off, Buzbee held a press conference in which he shared a 1-800 number for potential victims to contact him.
Combs is accused of sex trafficking and racketeering and faces several civil suits from individual alleged victims outlining a seeming pattern of abuse that dates back decades.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) or visit hotline.rainn.org/online and receive confidential support.
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Jay Stahl

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Trucking horrific animal welfare conditions across Europe – EURACTIV

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Animals stuck on a truck for months, an uneven application of EU animal welfare rules, and complex transport costs. Europe’s animal transport conundrums are getting a second look.
This article is part of our special report Animal protection – in Europe and beyond
Underwritten Produced with financial support from an organization or individual, yet not approved by the underwriter before or after publication.
Transport of livestock intended for slaughter. Bovines in a livestock truck. [(Photo by: Leitenberger S/Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)]

This article is part of our special report Animal protection – in Europe and beyond.

Animal transport talks are on the table again, with welfare groups hoping for more robust rulings to prevent cruelty and suffering at the EU’s borders as well as lengthy travel times.
Last week, the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) of the European Parliament shared an exchange of views in a joint committee meeting on the Commission’s proposal concerning the protection of animals during transport and related operations.
The Commission’s proposal contains measures such as limiting journey times and introducing more rest breaks, increasing space allowances during transportation, enhancing the conditions for exports to non-EU countries and new measures around transporting animals in extreme temperatures, both hot and cold.
Jo Swabe, Senior Director of Public Affairs, Humane Society International (HSI)/Europe, said she is pleased to see movement towards increasing animal welfare as the current legislation is not fit for purpose, and animals are suffering because of it. She believes it needs to “be brought in line with current animal welfare science.”
“It must also reflect technological developments, like GPS tracking and the digitisation of their systems in order to track travel time – and for all kinds of traceability. If you’re moving animals across borders, they can also be accompanied by infectious diseases- so you really need to know what is being transported and when and where,” she said.
Lobby interests
Swabe was present at the exchange of views last week. She noted, “It was fascinating how it was very clear that there’d been heavy industry lobby because the same narratives, for example, on increased emissions due to increased space allowances and supposedly, therefore, more trucks on the road, were being repeated by certain parties,” she said.
Animal rights and welfare groups want the meat industry to move away from live exports and have animals slaughtered locally.
Earlier this year, a Bill was passed in the UK banning the live export of animals intended for slaughter or fattening. Could the EU make the same move?
“This is something that we were pleased with – the Commission acknowledged in its proposal, and this was also repeated last week in the meeting, that the preference is to move towards a carcass-only trade instead of transporting live animals.”
“In other words, to transport animals “on the hook” instead of “on the hoof”.  If you are shifting operations, you have maybe even the possibility of creating more employment opportunities by having more localised slaughter and the export of meat, rather than the export of live animals,” said Swabe.
“Obviously, animals aren’t just being transported for slaughter purposes, so this only applies to part of the trade,” she added.
To ban, or not to ban?
Daniel Buda, EPP, first vice-president of COM AGRI and rapporteur on the dossier, said the transport of live animals must continue, commenting – “Please stop this train of thought leading to a total ban on such transport!” – explaining they are also transported for reproduction.
“We cannot stop an economic activity indispensable to the survival of our farmers – [farmers] have every interest that their animals are transported to the highest standards possible because their purpose is to ultimately deliver adequate productions of milk or meat,” he said.
“That is precisely why the price of such animals is around €2000-€3000. An injured animal loses its capabilities and will follow the path of the slaughterhouse where the farmer can get a maximum of half the money paid for the animal,” he explains.
When it comes to introducing more ideas of slaughtering locally, he said, “I support the development of local economies and the shortening of the supply chain as much as possible, but this implies, first of all, the development of an adequate slaughterhouse network throughout the EU, and the Union will have to finance such structures!” he explains.
Keeping it real
Buda says it’s his responsibility to ensure that the legislative proposal “remains anchored in the on-the-ground reality” and wants to see “no negative impact on farmers”. It can’t be at “the expense of farmers, sacrificing their welfare and forcing them to give up the rearing of animals altogether in order to survive,” he said, explaining that an expense to farmers would hit the buyer’s pocket, too.
Some of the worst cases of animal suffering during transport can be witnessed at the borders leaving the EU, for example, the Bulgarian/Turkish border, as EU animals are exiting to third countries.
In the last few months, detrimental conditions have led to the premature deaths of heifers and newborn calves.
In September, cows from Germany were approved for travel but then stopped at the Turkish border at Kapıkule and prohibited from entering due to having originated from a blue tongue area. They could also not return to the EU. The 69 pregnant heifers were stuck on the trucks for over a month.
Truck of horrors
“Somehow, the EU considers animal health requirements higher than animal welfare requirements,” said Helena Bauer, Project Manager at Animals’ Angels.
As a result, the shipment had to be slaughtered, but before that happened, during the waiting ordeal, heifers gave birth, thirteen calves died, eight heifers died, two heifers could no longer stand, and the animals had to survive amongst carcases.
As shocking as that may seem, just after the horrific event, trucks from Poland and Romania were stranded at the same border, and several more animals died as a result.
Buda believes that “Regulation 1/2005, which is in force, is a good legislation that allows the European Union to boast with the highest welfare standards in the world. Unfortunately, the law is interpreted unevenly and is poorly implemented, as the European Parliament’s ANIT Committee of Inquiry found, as well as the Court of Auditors in 2023.”
And that the onus should be on all member states to be “responsible for the controls to ensure compliance with the legislation. I remind you that, for the first time in the history of the EU, we have a Commissioner for animal welfare who is responsible for solving such crises.”
He said it “is essential to strengthen prevention mechanisms, reduce bureaucracy and ensure the same animal welfare standards from the point of departure to the destination, whether it is in the EU or third countries. But at the same time, we must take into account the powers of the EU to legislate outside its borders.”
It’s doubtful that those stranded heifers felt the ‘powers of the EU’ or that they were enduring the ‘highest welfare standards in the world’ when they met with such suffering at the border. Something has to give, and it shouldn’t be the knees of innocent stranded cattle. Change is imperative.
The interview with Daniel Buda was conducted via email.
[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]


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