An attorney with long-standing ties to Jay-Z has filed a $25 million lawsuit against Tony Buzbee.
Buzbee — the high-profile lawyer whose tactics have drawn criticism from the 25-time Grammy winner, Shannon Sharpe, and others — is accused of defaming Marcy Croft, an attorney who has worked closely with Team Roc, the philanthropic branch of Hov’s Roc Nation.
In the federal lawsuit filed in Texas on December 17, Croft alleges that Buzbee and his Houston-based firm launched a coordinated smear campaign on social media, falsely accusing her of serious crimes such as “illegal client solicitation, bribery, intimidation, and obstruction of justice.”
Croft’s legal team says the claims are completely baseless and were “made with actual malice.”
Croft’s legal team says their client became the target of what they describe as “deliberate falsehoods” starting in December of 2024, after a former client of the Buzbee Law Firm, Jose Maldonado, reached out to her for advice. Maldonado allegedly accused the firm of mishandling client funds. While Croft suggested he may have been caught up in a “fraudulent scheme,” she felt there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward with a civil lawsuit. She also claims that during her phone call with Maldonado, she heard a noise that sounded like a recording device.
The complaint further claims that Buzbee’s firm went after Croft online, accusing her of running an illegal operation in which she supposedly hired “agents” to approach former Buzbee clients and offer them up to $10,000 to file baseless lawsuits against him. Croft is seeking $25 million in compensatory and punitive damages, saying the ordeal caused serious emotional distress and damage to her reputation.
According to the filing, these incidents unfolded at the same time Buzbee was actively suing Croft and Roc Nation, with his version of the alleged “agents” plot included directly in that lawsuit.
That case was filed just days after Buzbee, acting on behalf of an anonymous accuser, brought a separate lawsuit alleging that Hov and Diddy raped a woman in 2000 when she was underage. That lawsuit was dropped earlier this year.
At the time, Hov fired back publicly.
“My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee,” Jay-Z said in a statement released last December. “What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle.”
“No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!”
