Jay-Z and the Epstein files

0:00Jay-Z:This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about. It's called the dark web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the dark web, US special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. Move in now. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, The Darkest Web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

0:48Nicki Minaj:Hello and welcome back to Fame Under Fire with me, Anushka Matandadawati. Be prepared for some strong language from the outset and throughout. out. My God, do we have a lot to catch up on. You go away for two weeks and Nicki Minaj is holding hands with Donald Trump. Kanye or Ye is taking out an ad in the Wall Street Journal to apologize to the black community and the Jewish community. Elon Musk's company's office of X in Paris have been raided by the French authorities. And yeah, those unredacted exhibits in the Blake Lively Baldoni files. We have a whole deep dive episode coming on that shortly.

1:21Nicki Minaj:So stay subscribed. But as soon as this came up, I knew we needed to cover it. Jay-Z included in the Epstein files. I've had a lot of messages from you concerned fans, people who are just curious, what does it say? And separately, in a series of shocking tweets from Nicki Minaj, she's publicly called him a child predator. So what on earth is going on? Are they related? And there's reports that he's fled the country. We're going to get into all of that. Now, we should say right from the outset that, of course, Fame Under Fire has contacted Jay-Z's lawyer. That's Alex Spiro. Remember him? He's come up a few times.

1:53Nicki Minaj:We asked for a response to these allegations, but we haven't heard back. We do know that in the recent past, think back to those Diddy allegations that involved Jay-Z, he has issued vehement denials about these sorts of allegations. But let's get into this today and break it down. Joining me, of course, we are reunited, is our resident trial attorney, Sean Kent from South Carolina, which apparently is in the middle of a snowstorm or a blizzard of some sort.

2:17Jay-Z:It is blizzardpocalypse 2026. We got a good full half an inch of dusting of snow and the entire state shut down.

2:24Nicki Minaj:Oh my goodness.

2:26Jay-Z:Welcome to the South. We're not used to seeing snow. It's like dandruff all over the world.

2:32Nicki Minaj:It hasn't stopped you from appearing in a two-piece paisley suit with a striped lining. Oh my God, he's back. He's back with a vengeance.

2:39Jay-Z:We've been apart so long I decided to go very conservative together because I missed you.

2:45Nicki Minaj:Yeah, I'd say I miss you. but we talk all the time.

2:47Jay-Z:I think the world was on fire while you went on vacation, so let's make sure we don't go anywhere else anytime soon.

2:53Nicki Minaj:I'm never leaving you again. You try cycling around the rice fields of Vietnam and you're like, they did what now? What's been released? But we need to talk about the Jay-Z inclusion in the Epstein Files. There's a lot for us to go over here. But before we get into that, I just want to cover some ground that might feel very familiar for some people, but maybe for our younger listeners. Sean, can you just explain what the Epstein files actually are?

3:20Jay-Z:And I'm glad you asked that because there's been so much misinformation about the Epstein files because people hear the Epstein file, they're almost like the X files, and people think that it is the conclusion of an investigation of a bunch of people. All the Epstein files are just an investigative file. When I say investigative file, convicted financier Jeffrey Epstein, of course, was looked at for a bevy of charges. Chief among those charges were doing things with children. And so when the FBI was looking into him, they have a duty to follow up every tip possible and full information against Jeffrey Epstein.

4:02Jay-Z:So what the Epstein files are is everything. And I hate to say it that way, but it's everything. It's every bit of investigation that possibly could have happened against Jeffrey Epstein, whether it was about him or tangentially touched him. They had a tip line. It involves tips. It involves unsubstantiated tips. If Jeffrey Epstein's name came up whatsoever throughout an investigation, it involves it. If he went to the grocery store on the 16th and bought some watermelons from your cousin, your cousin's name is in the Epstein files, But it also includes his flight logs, people he talked to, trips.

4:39Jay-Z:So it is just a full investigative body. The best way to describe it is it is about three terabytes of information. So if you're sitting at home, it can fill up three fully charged iPhones with investigation and pictures and so forth. So the Epstein files is just 600 million pages of an investigation.

4:59Nicki Minaj:And there's so much for us to get into there about layers of investigation and what is personal emails, pictures. And we're going to talk about that. But really, at the center of all this are the victims, the survivors. And their names have cropped up in this, some of them unredacted. Can you talk about the handling of this a little bit?

5:18Jay-Z:One of my biggest fears as a criminal defense lawyer, as a human being, was the everybody said release the Epstein files. The problem with just releasing the Epstein files is our interest to know stuff has to be balanced by an individual's privacy rights. And so when we released Epstein files, we have victims who don't want their names released. People who are subject to horrible things at the hands of him. People are still going through psychological terror. We released it with such a haphazard reaction. It was so bad to me that it hurt more people than it possibly helped. And sometimes we have to balance the public's need to know versus a person's individual privacy.

5:57Nicki Minaj:Well, yeah, it's been re-traumatizing for a lot of the victims who are in there, some of them whose privacy has been violated. And it's already difficult enough having to go through what they've been through and then to have what many lawyers who've got clients who were victims and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have said, just completely shoddy, just lack of care going through and not redacting people's names. I mean, some people's names have been in there hundreds of times. So I think we need to remember that those individuals are central to what's been released and have called for the release of the files.

6:27Nicki Minaj:But for people who are interested, and there is a great interest in this, because of the nature of the crimes and because we've heard so much about it, but also because he died before he went to trial, you can find the Epstein files yourself. Can you just talk me through where you can find them? Oh, yeah.

6:43Jay-Z:If you want to do the simplest part possible, you can find the Epstein files. If you got Google, you can find Epstein files.

6:50Nicki Minaj:Yeah. If you Google Jeffrey Epstein files DOJ, it will bring you up to a page. You have to be over 18 years old to look through. I would say, you know, sensitive material in there, triggering material for a lot of people who may have been through similar things. So approach with caution. But what you get is a page where you can keyword search terms. Now, if you go in there and you keyword search Sean Carter, you will find the inclusion, which is the real name for Jay-Z, of Jay-Z in the Epstein files. You've just covered how wide ranging they are, Sean. But I'm going to read out what is in there when you search up Sean Carter.

7:25Nicki Minaj:OK, so it came through a tip line. Can you just explain what that is?

7:28Jay-Z:So what the FBI does and most agencies do when they're looking at somebody who is this large in a crime, they set up an FBI tip line. And I'll tell you, having spoke to the FBI before on certain cases, as much as we think they love these tip lines, they hate them, but they are a necessary tool to try to get investigation and get information. because what happens in these tip lines is they get thousands of calls. They get fame seekers. They get individuals. And when they get these tips in, they send it out. They send a 1-800 number out. And they're like, if you have any information that might be related to, say, the Jeffrey Epstein case, please call our tip line.

8:08Jay-Z:What ends up happening is those informations come in. There is a body of people who sit there just in a room. It could be 100 agents who are listening to all these calls. And then they have to sift through them. There is an agency, a part of something that's called a taint team, and the team then breaks down the information first to see. And I'm trying to keep it simple, but what they do is they break down the first level of this is completely impossible. They're talking about. Astronauts, they're talking about aliens or talking about things as nature. We immediately remove those. And then the second part of the taint team sends the next bit of information that could have any logical information to what they're looking for.

8:49Jay-Z:And they investigate it. And that's all a tip line is.

8:52Nicki Minaj:So I'm going to read out what is in there. And it says, date time received 7th of October 2019 at 8.20 in the morning. It says, in approximately 1994, Redacted revealed herself to Redacted as a past victim of sexual abuse by Epstein. Redacted described the abuse occurred during parties. The next section is Redacted. Further identifies a few other Redacted names. Now, in relation to Jay-Z, it says in approximately 1996, Redacted resided with Redacted in Redacted. An unknown man abducted her from her home when she later awoke in the presence of Harvey Weinstein and Sean Carter, stage name Jay-Z.

9:32Nicki Minaj:While Weinstein had inserted his fingers into Redacted, Redacted believed she was in Epstein's mansion in Florida. So that is the specific reference to Jay-Z. And like you said, that's in the broadest sweep of the Epstein files. But Sean, that doesn't indicate criminality. It doesn't indicate that a criminal charge is coming against Jay-Z. It doesn't actually specifically reference any abuse committed by Jay-Z. So what should we take from this inclusion?

10:02Jay-Z:Nothing. And I hate to say it that way, and I'm not trying to be coy, but we should take nothing from it, but the world will. And here's why we should take nothing from it. If, these are massive ifs. Anushka, if you wanted to be included in the Epstein file, you could have called the tip line and giving that information with your name in it involving Jay-Z. And they would have had that in there. Until that investigative file goes to the next level, meaning there are possibly a criminal charges, maybe a grand jury has been indicted. Maybe he has been interviewed. Maybe he's been investigated. There is nothing there.

10:37Jay-Z:Just because this is the Epstein files, I want the world to understand this is nothing special. This happens every single day. Been doing this for 26 years. You would be shocked how many times we have clients, individuals, when I go and look at a criminal file where I see very random names mentioned in it and the cops are just like, yeah, that has nothing to do with the case. We got this tip. We just put it inside of there and no one ever knows. And so to answer your question, just being in the file means nothing because out there, believe it or not, somebody watching this podcast right now, Your name is in a criminal file because somebody has mentioned you and you don't even know it.

11:16So it means nothing at this point.

11:19Nicki Minaj:The inclusion is a procedural formality and it's because of what Trump signed to be released. But there are levels to the evidence that is there because there are other people, famous names, where there's pictures of them on Epstein Island. There's correspondence between Epstein and them. It's a couple of emails back and forth where they seem to be arranging to meet up. But that is all very different from what is in there pertaining to Jay-Z. I also want to say that the claim is that this took place in 1996 on that tip line. That was the year Jay-Z released his first studio album. And some people on social media have pointed out that perhaps he wouldn't be rubbing shoulders with Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein when he just released an album in 1996.

11:57Nicki Minaj:But that, of course, is there for the FBI to investigate. And there are no criminal charges. And if there were, we'd be telling you about them.

12:08Jay-Z:We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about. It's called the dark web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the dark web, US special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. Move in now. Police! From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the darkest web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

12:41Nicki Minaj:so sean you've just explained very clearly that jay-z's inclusion and what we should take from it which you've said is pretty much like nothing at all but i want to say that this was taken then to another level by nikki minaj who is you and i know one of the most successful female rappers of all time and a former fan and collaborator of jay-z so yeah nikki minaj has long looked up to Jay-Z. She obviously has an album called The Prink Print, which is a direct reference to his album, The Blueprint. Like you say there, she's talking about if she hadn't signed with Lil Wayne to be on the YMCNB label, she'd have signed with Jay-Z.

13:16Nicki Minaj:She's done songs with Beyonce, on and on and on, which is why it's really quite confusing for people who are just casual observers of this, that she posted a shot of Jay-Z with Aaliyah, the R &B singer, with the caption, hashtag child predator. Now, this did actually come amidst a flurry of other tweets, some of where she was making fun of Lizzo's body. Sean, you've got that one, don't you?

13:36Jay-Z:I do. Quote. Not getting canceled. This is like reading mean tweets, but reading the tweet out, going with the glasses here, that way it shows. Fat Lizzo lost 300 pounds just to sell 300 albums. So now she has loose skin and a flop album and a weird charge. Sheesh.

13:56Nicki Minaj:So she tweeted that about Lizzo. Interesting thing for Nicki Minaj to tweet, seen as she's always been sort of a mouthpiece for body positivity.

14:04Jay-Z:Body positivity. She is the cult of inconsistency hypocrisy on some of these tweets based upon who she is and her history. But I'm sure we'll get into that as well.

14:13Nicki Minaj:I mean, I want to fact check that. First of all, Lizzo is not facing any criminal charges. You don't get charges with a civil trial. So it's an incorrect thing to say. I'm assuming she's referring to the civil lawsuit filed by three former backup dancers of Lizzo who allege they were subject to sexual harassment. Some of those claims are that Lizzo pressured them, one of her backup dancers, to touch the breast of a dancer in a nightclub in Amsterdam. Other incidents cited in the case include claims that dancers were asked to eat fruit from the naked bodies of club workers. Lizzo has denied multiple times all the allegations, saying, I am not settling.

14:46Nicki Minaj:I'll be fighting every single claim until the truth is out. Now, Sean, if I'm going to be really, really petty, I can fact check the weight loss claim technically lizzo has publicly stated that her heaviest she was 325 pounds so by nikki's math she'd be 25 pounds currently weighing 25 pounds um i know she's being facetious but you know just for the interest of taking it literally um in other tweets from nikki that she's released she's claimed that chrissy tegan has or had a penis allegedly sean Give me that tweet.