Justin Baldoni's former publicist Stephanie Jones has filed a lawsuit alleging that Baldoni and his team initiated a smear campaign against her.
Jones alleges that Jennifer Abel, who previously worked alongside Jones, stole Jonesworks’ proprietary information. She then hired Baldoni and Wayfarer as clients after founding her own firm, breaching contractual agreements with Jonesworks.
Stephanie Jones is the founder and CEO of Jonesworks, a luxury PR firm. Jonesworks is a full-service communications, marketing, and management agency. It represents an impressive list of sporting, lifestyle, and consumer brands (Forbes).
Jones hails from London, England, and is an experienced senior public relations professional. She is known for representing A-list stars including Dwayne Johnson and Jeff Bezos.
This lawsuit has been raised as Baldoni still fights his case against Blake Lively’s allegations.
Blake Lively takes legal action against Justin Baldoni
Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Justin Baldoni of inappropriate conduct and orchestrating a smear campaign to discredit her. Lively’s lawyers retrieved text messages from Jonesworks a PR firm, as evidence to support their allegations.
Lively’s legal filing states that the information obtained from Jonesworks mentions conversations between Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis expert Melissa Nathan, about pushing back against Lively’s accusations (Variety).
The messages reportedly include mentions to “bury” Lively’s credibility and gearing up for a smear campaign, although Abel has denied taking any proactive measures to damage Lively’s reputation.
Lively’s lawyers have stated they obtained the information legally through a subpoena issued to Jonesworks. While there is no evidence of Stephanie Jones’ involvement in the case, her firm’s involvement has drawn scrutiny.
Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman responds to Stephanie Jones’ involvement
Baldoni, Abel and Nathan's lawyer Bryan Freedman stated that he considers the claims to be false and remarked that the complete text messages between Abel and Nathan would reveal that they had no hand in any sort of smear campaign.
Freedman stated that he would like to sue Stephanie Jones, and said:
“The complete set of text messages unequivocally show that there was no smear campaign initiated at all which is why certain texts are incomplete and other texts, which tell the truth, are purposefully excluded.”
Jones' attorney Kristin Tahler pushed back, saying Jones was being set up as a 'scapegoat' for simply responding to a subpoena. In response to Bryan Freedman's remark, Tahler said:
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“Desperate to shift attention away from their disgraceful sliming of Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni’s team is doubling down on their smears by going after someone who had nothing whatsoever to do with this ugly campaign,”
Meanwhile, the California Civil Rights Department has declined to give any comments on the case. It has neither confirmed nor denied any accusations from both sides.
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