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‘TELL THE TRUTH’
Jay-Z’s alleged secret son Rymir Satterthwaite accuses rapper of abusing legal system for EIGHT years to avoid paternity test – and says he won’t stop fighting for justice
THE man who claims to be the secret son of Jay-Z has accused the rapper of using his fame and wealth to avoid taking a paternity test for more than EIGHT years.
Rymir Satterthwaite's guardian has even launched a legal battle against their own lawyers - accusing them of colluding with the rapper’s legal team to help him get out of taking the test.
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The case is due to go to trial in Philadelphia this December - and Rymir, 24, said he will not give up his fight until the world knows the “truth” and he gets a fair process in court.
Jay-Z - who is married to Beyonce and whose real name is Shawn Carter - has denied being the father but has always refused to take a paternity test.
The court initially threw out Rymir’s request for a paternity test after mistakenly believing his real dad had been found - when in fact his birth certificate, seen by Sun Online, shows no father listed.
Then, court papers allege, lawyers for Rymir's side secretly colluded with lawyers for Jay-Z, 48, causing procedure problems that caused the case to be thrown out of Philadelphia courts.
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In an exclusive interview with Sun Online, Rymir, an aspiring musician, claims he has been denied the right to have a fair hearing in court because of legal mistakes and malpractice - and now wants justice.
He said: “I don’t want money or anything like that from Jay-Z.
“I just want him to finally tell the truth to the world.
“He’s supposed to be a positive role model for our community - he stands there screaming ‘Black Lives Matter’ - well tell the truth and take responsibility.
“And if you say I’m not your son and nothing ever happened with my mum then just take the test.
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“If you are telling the truth then why is your first answer whenever you’re asked to take a paternity test ‘no’?
"Also I want a fair due process in court regardless of who my father is or how rich he is."
Rymir was first told by mum Wanda that she believed Jay-Z was his father when he was around eight.
Wanda, 43, has claimed that she hooked up with the rapper - then known as “Rock” - in 1992 at his aunt’s apartment in the projects of Brooklyn, New York, after he first picked her up from Philadelphia.
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The pair allegedly used protection but it failed - and aside from a visit from him two weeks later - the pair never saw each other again and Wanda had no idea how to contact him.
Although Wanda's live-in boyfriend Robert Graves was originally listed on the birth certificate - he was legally removed in 2011 after a DNA test proved he was not the father.
Wanda’s godmother Lillie, who was given custody of Rymir in 2010 when Wanda became too sick to look after him, says she believes Jay-Z is the father and is determined to fight until the family get treated fairly in court.
She said: “Wanda was only 16 when she allegedly met Shawn but she may have told him she was older.
“She fell pregnant but had no idea how to contact him.
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"Her on-off boyfriend at the time, Robert, knew the baby wasn’t his but put his name on the birth certificate while Wanda was unconscious recovering from the birth.
"Initially he felt sorry for Wanda but later he used it so he could collect extra food stamps and benefits. "Both were minors at the time so he shouldn't have signed anything.
“Over the years she tried to get in touch with Shawn but Robert always stopped her.
“In 2009 she came to me and asked me to help get in touch with Shawn and sort the situation out.
“In the beginning when we first reached to Shawn’s team, we reached out in love, and we wrote a letter.
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“I got a call from his in-house lawyer and they were very helpful and we thought we would resolve this privately - they even talked about Rymir's music talent and whether it was a good time to put him on his record label but he had to finish high school so I said no.
“Suddenly different lawyers got involved and their attitude completely changed - I think they realised there was more at stake for Shawn given that Wanda was allegedly underage.
“We put in legal requests for both Shawn and Robert to take paternity tests in Philadelphia. Robert did his and was found not to be the father but Shawn's request was not processed due to procedural problems.
“Since then there has just been a whole bunch of mistakes, oversights and collusion between our lawyers and Shawn’s lawyers - which is why we have to fight back. And we’re not giving up.
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“This has become about more than just Jay-Z and the paternity test - it’s about people being fairly treated by the legal system no matter how much money they have.”
The most recent lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia and seen by Sun Online, claims that one attorney they hired was actually “best friends and neighbours” with Jay-Z’s lawyer.
It claims that Jay-Z's attorney made Wanda sign legal papers while she was in hospital recovering from a medicated coma which replaced Lillie’s name on the petition - without consent - and for “nefarious reasons”.
The name change, done while Wanda was “in distress” and thinking she was doing the right thing for her son, caused the case to be thrown out.
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The court papers state that the case has been “devastating” for their family and that “they never saw so much corruption or experienced so much hurt”.
It adds: “Rymir the then-child suffered the pain of rejection, fraud and collusion."
Both attorneys deny the allegations in their response to the lawsuit.
Rymir, who lives with Lillie in Blackwood, New Jersey, said the eight-year legal battle has made him lose faith in the system.
“Honestly I believe anybody else in this world would have had to take the test,” he said.
What does Jay-Z say about the claims?
Jay-Z has never publicly spoken about the case. Sun Online has reached out several times to his representatives and never received a response.
His lawyer stated that the rapper is "not an interested party with respect to the custody of Rymir Satterthwaite," in legal papers filed in 2011.
He added "there has been no determination or viable claim of a familial relationship with Mr Carter."
Back in 2011 the rap star denied reports he had fathered a different child with a model called Shenelle Scott.
His reps said at the time there was "not truth" to the "ridiculous rumours".
“Whenever you have people with lots of money against ordinary people it's going to be a fight - but I believe the system was more on his side than on my mine and I didn't get a fair due process in court. I never got my chance to talk.
“It got pushed to the side and basically now I walk around and everybody’s looking at me and saying ‘he's chasing Jay-Z, he wants money, he’s trying to get his 15 minutes of fame’.
“This never about money for me. My whole thing was just to see who my father was and honestly I get my own money. I work two jobs, I take care of my own business.
“I’ve got a positive family behind me that helps me with everything I do. It wasn't like I needed anything.
“I just needed closure and I wanted respect from the courts. Just like everybody else goes in there and gets respect and gets a fair, due process. Why didn’t I get that? Why did I just get brushed to the side?
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“Is it because of somebody's name? Is it because somebody was getting paid off. I will never know.”
He added: “We're all equal in this world and no one should think they're better than somebody just because they can pay 40 or 50 lawyers to go fight for you - that doesn’t make you better than nobody - that makes you a coward.”
Rymir, who works at a restaurant and a pet store as well as writing and recording music, said he gets angry when people accuse him of making up his claims in order to boost his career.
“No one gets fame off of chasing Jay-Z,” he said. “This is one of the most powerful men in music right now.
“What am I getting from chasing him screaming that he's my father? I'm getting nothing out of it.
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“I’ve been hearing this so much and it makes me sick because I bust my a** working day to day and I take care of myself and I take care of my family.”
Ultimately Rymir says he holds “no grudge” against Jay-Z and still holds out hope that they can one day meet and resolve the situation amicably.
He hopes to concentrate on his music career - and is hoping to even tour the UK in the future.
“I'm still positive,” he said. “I still wake up every day, I still pray, count all my blessings. I love my family. I love to do things. I love to go camping. It didn't change me.
“It lets me see that the world is not what you always planned it out to be."
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He added: “If Jay-Z was sat here right now I’d hope we could just talk and catch up.
"I’m a calm person - I’m not going to scream and all that I would just tell him how I feel and hopefully he would tell me how he feels and we could work things out.
“There’s no grudge - I don’t want to have grudges with people in the world that’s why so many people are dying.
“I wish the best for him and his family I don’t wish any badness on anybody. I just want justice and a fair process in court."
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