Who is Tony Buzbee, the lawyer taking on Diddy and Jay-Z?
Buzbee has been involved in several high-profile cases, including Ken Paxton's impeachment and the BP oil spill.
(NewsNation) — A lawyer representing several accusers of Sean “Diddy” Combs and now Jay-Z has come under fire from the celebrities he’s sued, but Tony Buzbee has had a long history of taking on high-profile cases.
Houston-based attorney Buzbee dropped a bombshell complaint amendment Sunday alleging rap mogul Jay-Z sexually assaulted a teen girl along with Combs in 2000.
Jay-Z immediately dismissed the lawsuit as a "blackmail attempt" by Buzbee and fired back, calling the attorney "an ambulance chaser in a cheap suit” and a "fraud" that he would “expose in a very public fashion."
Buzbee responded in an X post Sunday evening, saying he never demanded money from the rapper, who he said “tried to bully and harass" him and his client.
The heated back and forth has brought renewed attention to the lawyer who’s been involved in numerous well-known cases, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and sexual misconduct accusations against NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Here’s what to know about Buzbee.
Buzbee's cases against Diddy
In October, Buzbee announced he was representing 120 people who plan on filing lawsuits saying they have experienced sexual misconduct from Combs, including 25 minors.
Buzbee said those suing are 60 men and 60 women. The youngest, Buzbee said, was 9.
“I imagine there’s a myriad of people who are nervous,” Buzbee said when announcing the lawsuits. “You can’t hide skeletons in the closet forever.”
He filed five new lawsuits alleging aggravated sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation against Combs last month.
In a statement to NewsNation, a representative for Combs said, “The extortion lawsuit against Mr. Buzbee exposes his barrage of lawsuits against Mr. Combs for what they are: 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.”
Buzbee sued NFL quarterback DeShaun Watson
Buzbee represented about two dozen women who filed lawsuits against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson over sexual misconduct allegations.
Since the suits were filed in 2021, he’s reached out-of-court settlement agreements for almost all of Watson’s accusers.
The QB was suspended for the first 11 games in 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage therapy sessions.
Watson was also fined $5 million and had to undergo mandatory evaluation before he was reinstated by the league.
Buzbee represented Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Buzbee was retained by GOP Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to represent him in his impeachment trial last year, and the lawyer delivered him an acquittal.
Paxton was impeached for allegedly abusing his office to help one of his top donors.
Buzbee’s line of defense was called "aggressive" by The New York Times, which added that he came out “swinging, attacking the process and questioning the motives of the assembled state senators who are acting as the jury” in his opening statements.
His website calls his work “a masterclass in legal and political defense,” and Buzbee was paid $100,000 for his legal services, reported The Texas Tribune.
Buzbee filed suits against Travis Scott
Buzbee filed a $750 million lawsuit against rapper Travis Scott on behalf of on behalf of at least 125 other victims of the 2021 Astroworld tragedy where 10 people died and hundreds were injured when the crowd rushed toward the stage during Scott's concert, reported Houston Public Media.
He settled several lawsuits with the rapper and Live Nation, which produced the show.
Buzbee and Deepwater Horizon
After a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea, and the incident became the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
Buzbee filed a lawsuit against BP on behalf of over 10,000 individuals and businesses, including fishermen and other workers who were impacted by the spill.
BP agreed to pay billions of dollars in settlements and cleanup costs as a result of the lawsuit.
Buzbee's political career
Buzbee also pursued two unsuccessful bids for offices in Texas.
In 2019, Buzbee ran to be Houston’s mayor against incumbent Sylvester Turner. The election was highly contentious, and though Buzbee made it into a runoff election, he ultimately lost.
Four years later, the lawyer launched a run for a Houston City Council seat, which he also lost.
Lawsuits filed against Buzbee
While Buzbee's spent the majority of time litigating for others, he is also facing his own legal allegations in two lawsuits filed last month.
The plaintiff, named “Jane Doe,” filed a lawsuit against Buzbee alleging that he assaulted her while he represented her during her divorce, reported TMZ.
She alleges Buzbee pushed a champagne flute into her face in a “fit of rage,” and the hit caused her to chip a tooth, the outlet reported.
The woman also alleges Buzbee committed malpractice by fumbling her divorce case, which ended up costing her millions of dollars.
Buzbee called the lawsuit against him “crazy fiction” in a statement to TMZ.
In a different lawsuit, Buzbee was accused of extortion and intentional infliction of emotional distress by a plaintiff referred to in the lawsuit as a “high-profile individual” and identified as “John Doe” through his lawyers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Calling Buzbee’s actions “textbook extortion,” the lawsuit accuses the attorney of writing letters that made “wildly false horrific allegations” that Doe raped minors at one of Combs’ parties and that there would be consequences unless he agreed to a mediated settlement.
Buzbee denied the allegations, calling it a coordinated attack by a rival law firm in a statement to NewsNation local affiliate WJW.
“Here is what I know. I’ve been sued twice now so far, and it’s being coordinated by a law firm from New York who reps a celebrity to who I sent a demand letter,” Buzbee stated in an email to the outlet.
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