Tony Buzbee, the prominent Houston attorney representing more than 100 people in a suit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, has been sued in California for allegedly extorting “high profile” individuals, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles County Court.
The lawsuit, which was filed in L.A. Monday by an unnamed individual identified only as “John Doe,” accused Buzbee and his firm of threatening to publicize “entirely fabricated and malicious allegations of sexual assault — including multiple instances of rape of a minor, both male and female.” The suit claimed Buzbee weaponized allegedly baseless accusations in a bid to extort money from the unidentified plaintiff.
Attorneys from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP are representing the plaintiff. The firm is one of the largest in the world with more than 1,000 attorneys and 35 offices in countries across the globe.
“Buzbee has established a pattern of leveling baseless, fabricated and malicious allegations at high profile individuals and threatening to name them publicly if they fail to pay exorbitant sums of money,” the firm stated in a Monday release. “Buzbee then uses this money to fund his lavish lifestyle. He has deployed these threats in letters, statements to the press, his website and on social media in recent months to try to shake down well known individuals.”
The complaint filed against Buzbee alleged the Houston attorney employed a “clear playbook” for extorting celebrities. According to the unidentified plaintiff’s attorneys, Buzbee would fabricate allegations and then send a letter demanding payment. If those targeted did not pay, Buzbee would turn to various media outlets as a means to apply public pressure, according to the complaint.
While the plaintiff’s identity remains uncertain, the lawsuit accused Buzbee of employing a scheme to obtain payment from individuals associated with Combs.
“With Combs behind bars, and payment unlikely to be forthcoming any time soon, Defendants devised a scheme to obtain payments through the use of coercive threats from anyone with any ties to Combs — no matter how remote,” the complaint alleged. “Defendants specifically targeted high-profile individuals who would suffer immeasurable loss from being publicly accused of committing sex crimes, including drugging and raping minors, even if those allegations are false.”
In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, Buzbee dismissed the claims, saying they were without legal merit and “laughable.”
“We won’t allow the powerful and their high-dollar lawyers to intimidate or silence sexual assault survivors,” Buzbee said. “It is obvious that the frivolous lawsuit filed against my firm is an aggressive attempt to intimidate or silence me and ultimately my clients. That effort is a gross miscalculation. I am a U.S. Marine. I won’t be silenced or intimidated.”
Buzbee said that, on behalf of two clients alleging sexual assault, he sent a standard demand letter to a New York lawyer who represented a potential defendant. The letter was a routine part of the legal process and included no threats or requests for compensation, Buzbee said.
“The letters were sent seeking a confidential mediation in lieu of filing a lawsuit. No amount of money was included in the demand letters. No threats were made. The demand letters sent are no different than the ones routinely sent by lawyers across the country in all types of cases,” he said.
See here for some background. I’m hardly a Tony Buzbee fan, but at first glance his version of this story sounds the more plausible to me. I’m going to need to hear more from the plaintiff – and yes, it would help to know who it is – to find their allegations credible. I’m not dismissing the possibility that these charges have merit, just that there’s not enough here for me to believe them. We’ll see where this goes.