Justin Baldoni suits his ex-Publicist to allegedly have sparkled Blake Lively lawsuit application

Justin Baldoni suits her former publicist and claims that she triggered the legal firestorm between him and Blake lively by leaking private text messages.

In the midst of the ongoing legal battle around It ends with usBaldoni, 41, and publicist Jennifer Abel submitted a mood in the New York Federal Court on March 21 against Stephanie Jones, founder of the PR company Jonesworks. The complaint claims that Jones violated the client’s confidentiality by sharing private communication that later became central evidence in a separate lawsuit by lively.

“It is undeniable that Stephanie Jones initiated this catastrophic sequence of events by violating the most basic privacy rights, as well as all the remaining confidence that her clients had,” said Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman in a statement to people who repeated statements in the complaint.

Jones had represented Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios, when reports appeared last summer by a falling between It ends with us Director and lively.

This latest mood is the sixth bound to It ends with us production. The dispute began in December 2024, when Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, Crisis Public Relations Manager Melissa Nathan, producer Jamey Heath, Wayfares founder Steve Sarowitz and others, claims sexual harassment and a coordinated campaign to hurt her reputation. The New York Times Later reported that it had reviewed “thousands of pages with text messages and e -mail messages she received through a mood.” These messages seemed to come from the phone to Abel, which had been seized by Jonesworks shortly after Abel informed Jones that she left to start her own business.

Baldoni later submitted a $ 250 million against New York TimesAccuses the outlet of damages, false light invasion of integrity, debt fraud and violations of implied agreements.

According to the complaint, Abel was called to a meeting where “she was confronted by a physically impressive security guard, a technical expert of forensic data and a lawyer who sat at a conference table Awash in documents,” two days before her last day at the company.

Once inside the situation escalated per complaint. “After starting into the conference room, Abel noticed that the security guard was placed just outside its doors, placed between the conference room and the office’s entrance, which blocked the outcome,” says the complaint. “There, the lawyer at the documents and instructed Abel to review and sign them. The lawyer stated that Jonesworks suspected Abel had retained proprietary information about her personal portable computer. Abel was told that Jonesworks would have reason to sue if she did not allow them.”

The atmosphere claims that this alleged meeting – and everything that followed – violated California’s work laws that regulated Abel’s employment. It forced telephone seizures, threats of legal action and denial of access to her own information was not only coercion but illegal during state labor protection, according to the archiving.

After getting control over Abel’s phone, Jones is alleged to lock her out of critical accounts bound to two -factor authentication, including her iCloud, bank accounts, tools and insurance. “On the other hand, Jones had now unlimited access to everything stored on Abel’s phone – her text messages, e -mail messages, personal photos,” the complaint says.

Jones is then accused of using that material against Baldoni and Wayfarer and transferred it to Sloane, a publicist who works with lively.

“During that conversation, Sloane told Nathan that Sloane had seen Natan’s text messages (which could only have come from Abel’s phone) and that Nathan would expect to be sued,” the complaint continues. “Jones (had) turned the content of Abel’s phone to Lively and her team – without a mood – so they could cut and dice her communication to construct a false story about the source of Lively’s poor publicity. In turning these materials to Lively, Jones fully knew that the blowing would be not only abel but also her clients.

In December, Jones submitted his own trial against Baldoni and Abel.

At that time, her lawyer, Kristin Tahler, told People: “For months, this group of gasoline and down -won Stephanie Jones and her company for financial gain, to solve personal points and most recently distract from their shameful behavior.”

In a new statement to people, Tahler said: “Miss Jones’s trial is entirely based on facts and concrete evidence. It clearly fits that Jen Abel conspired with Melissa Nathan and others to steal Reams of Confidential Documents, customers and staff and eventually try to destroy the company that MS Jones spent.

Baldoni has also submitted a $ 400 million suit against lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds48.