Jay-Z has formally closed out a decade-long legal saga by choosing not to pursue attorney fees against Rymir Satterthwaite, who has spent years alleging the rap icon is his biological father.
According to newly filed federal court records, the billionaire artist let a judge-imposed deadline pass without requesting reimbursement for legal costs, even after securing a complete victory in Los Angeles federal court. Earlier this week, the judge confirmed the matter is now permanently closed and that the window for Jay-Z to seek fees has expired.
Satterthwaite dropped his suit against Hov in late July. In the suit, he alleged that Jay is his biological father, saying that Hov has refused to take a paternity test while also using his legal muscle to suppress the case. At the time of the July dismissal, Satterthwaite said that he wasn't giving up, but rather executing a strategic move.
"I have not stopped my fight. I did withdraw my case, but it's for a reason. It's not because I'm stopping it or I'm going to refile. It's just a lot going on behind closed doors [...] I have not gotten any DNA test. I have not gotten a settlement. It is not over," he said during a livestream.
Jay-Z's legal team had responded to the allegations just two weeks prior. In a statement, his attorneys condemned the filings as a "decades-long harassment campaign," calling the claims "fabricated" and "rejected."
This latest development in Satterthwaite's case comes weeks after U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett dismissed a different but related lawsuit with prejudice on November 4, shutting the door on any future attempt to bring the same claims again in federal court. That case was filed by paralegal Lillie Coley, Satterthwaite's godmother and legal guardian. She has long accused Jay-Z of dodging paternity testing and manipulating the system to avoid scrutiny.
Coley’s lawsuit echoed allegations Satterthwaite has pushed for years, claiming his late mother, Wanda, had a relationship with Jay-Z in the early 1990s. The dispute had already bounced through New Jersey courts for years, where judges repeatedly ruled they lacked the authority to force Jay-Z to participate in paternity testing. Coley and Satterthwaite later accused state officials of mishandling the case and protecting a high-profile figure.
Throughout the cases, Jay-Z’s legal team has described the paternity allegations as part of a long harassment campaign, noting that no court has ever validated the claims.
