Jay-Z is facing renewed legal pressure to address claims that he is the father of 31-year-old Rymir Satterthwaite, who has been pursuing a decade-long paternity battle against the rapper.
This comes as Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is also dealing with a separate civil lawsuit accusing him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of s3xually assaulting a teenage girl in 2000.
Satterthwaite and his late mother, Wanda, claimed for years that Jay-Z was his biological father, but the rapper has consistently denied the allegations. In a new lawsuit filed on November 25, Satterthwaite, his guardian Dr. Lillie Coley, and Wanda (who passed away in 2019) allege that Jay-Z’s legal team engaged in fraudulent court actions to prevent him from taking a paternity test.
The suit names multiple New Jersey courts, judges, and officials, accusing them of violating their constitutional rights through sealed records, wrongful sanctions, and obstruction of legal proceedings from 2012 to 2023.
Wanda first alleged that she had a s3xual relationship with Jay-Z in 1992 when she was 16, and he was 22. In a sworn affidavit, she stated that she became pregnant and gave birth to Satterthwaite in the summer of 1993.
At the time, Wanda was in an on-and-off relationship with her high school boyfriend, Robert Graves. In 2010, she requested a Pennsylvania court to order both Graves and Jay-Z to take paternity tests to confirm her son’s biological father. Test results ruled out Graves.
The legal battle formally began in August 2012 with a pre-trial in Camden County, New Jersey. Jay-Z’s attorney argued that Dr. Coley had no jurisdiction over the case because the initial filing occurred in Pennsylvania.
The case was dismissed since Satterthwaite was already over 18, and Pennsylvania law requires paternity to be established before adulthood. However, New Jersey law allows paternity cases until the age of 23, which prompted Satterthwaite to refile in New Jersey.
Jay-Z’s legal team contested the case, claiming the rapper was not a resident of New Jersey and did not own property in the state—despite public records linking him to homes in Alpine and Newport. On December 12, 2012, Jay-Z’s New Jersey attorney, Lise Fisher, admitted in court that she had “misspoken” about Jay-Z’s residency. Fisher initially claimed Jay-Z’s address was in New York but later acknowledged that his New York address was a business property, not his residence.
Court documents show that Fisher’s “error” was flagged during the reconsideration motion, where property deeds and tax records indicated Jay-Z’s ownership of New Jersey properties. According to New Jersey law, attorneys can be charged with fraud if they knowingly make false statements in court.
Satterthwaite and his legal team argue that such misrepresentations prevented them from moving forward with the paternity test. The new lawsuit seeks to overturn previous rulings and force Jay-Z to acknowledge the paternity case.
While Jay-Z has remained largely silent about the paternity allegations, this legal battle continues to unfold alongside the separate civil case involving s3xual assault claims, placing further scrutiny on the rapper’s personal and legal affairs.
