Justin Baldoni accuses former publicist of betraying trust in new lawsuit

Justin Baldoni has filed a lawsuit against his former publicist, Stephanie Jones, claiming she leaked private text messages that sparked a legal battle with Blake Lively.

"It is undeniable that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of events by violating the most basic of privacy rights, as well as any remaining trust her clients held,” Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman said.

The lawsuit alleges Jones seized Jennifer Abel's phone, which contained private text messages, and passed them to Lively's publicist, Leslie Sloane.

According to the complaint, Abel was summoned to a meeting where she was confronted by a security guard, a forensic data extraction technical expert, and an attorney. 

The attorney stated that Jonesworks suspected Abel had retained proprietary information on her personal laptop.

Jones allegedly locked Abel out of critical accounts tied to two-factor authentication and used the material against Baldoni and Wayfarer. 

“Jones [had] turned over the contents of Abel’s phone to Lively and her team — without a subpoena — so they could construct a false narrative about the source of Lively’s bad publicity."

In a statement, Jones's attorney, Kristin Tahler, said, "Ms. Jones’ lawsuit is based entirely on facts and concrete evidence... Abel, Nathan, Baldoni and their co-defendants attempted to achieve these outcomes through bullying distortion and outright disparagement."

The Jane the Virgin star has also filed a $400 million defamation suit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.