Justin Baldoni‘s former publicist sued him, his firm and his present publicity workforce on Tuesday, amid a spiraling scandal over an alleged smear marketing campaign in opposition to Baldoni’s “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Energetic.

Steph Jones, who owns Jonesworks, accused Baldoni of breaching their contract, which required him to pay her $25,000 per thirty days. Baldoni dropped the agency in August, just a few months right into a year-long deal, after his Jonesworks publicist, Jennifer Abel, left the corporate to begin her personal publicity agency.

Jones additionally sued Abel and publicist Melissa Nathan, accusing them of implementing the smear marketing campaign in opposition to Energetic behind her again and with out her data. She alleges that they’re now making an attempt in charge her for the following meltdown.

“To today, Abel and Nathan proceed to level the finger falsely at Jones now that their very own misconduct is coming to mild, and to defame and assault Jones within the trade,” the lawsuit states.

Energetic filed a grievance on Saturday with the California Civil Rights Division, accusing Baldoni and his publicists of orchestrating damaging protection about her in retaliation for her complaints of sexual harassment on set.

Within the grievance, Energetic accused Baldoni of a catalog of sexually inappropriate feedback and habits that allegedly befell on set in 2023. In line with the grievance, she raised these points by way of her attorneys earlier than filming, which had been suspended through the Hollywood strikes, resumed earlier this 12 months.

The rift between Baldoni and Energetic turned obvious through the publicity tour for the movie final summer time. Baldoni feared that Energetic or her workforce would public accuse him of sexual misconduct, and sought methods to fight that. The grievance quoted extensively from textual content messages amongst Baldoni’s publicity workforce, wherein they plotted to “bury” Energetic.

In an uncommon transfer, Energetic’s attorneys obtained the messages by sending a pre-litigation subpoena to Jones.

Abel, Nathan, and Baldoni are represented by legal professional Bryan Freedman. On Monday, Freedman threatened to sue Jones for releasing the contents of Abel’s cellphone to Energetic’s authorized workforce. Freedman, Abel and Nathan didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Jones’ swimsuit.

In her lawsuit, Jones relates that she “forensically preserved” Abel’s firm cellphone after Abel was fired.

“Abel and Nathan’s covert take down and smear campaigns have been revealed in black and white on Abel’s company-issued cellphone following her termination, which Jonesworks forensically preserved and examined intimately after receiving a subpoena for the cellphone’s contents,” Jones’ swimsuit states. “Jones found the breadth and depth of Abel and Nathan’s duplicity from these information, together with that Abel was actively encouraging different Jonesworks shoppers and workers to go away Jonesworks whereas Abel was nonetheless employed there.”

Jones’ swimsuit alleges that Abel conspired for months to go away her firm and to “steal” her shoppers and trash her popularity within the trade. She accuses Nathan of encouraging Abel to go away, as a result of Nathan would then have higher entry to these shoppers.

“This scheme finally inflicted severe harm on Jones and Jonesworks,” states the lawsuit, which was filed in state court docket in New York.

Amongst different issues, the swimsuit alleges that Abel and Nathan planted damaging tales about Jones within the press, together with an article in Enterprise Insider that was revealed final summer time.

The swimsuit alleges breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, breach of fiduciary responsibility and defamation.