Embattled Justin Baldoni and his PR team have been hit by a barrage of anonymous death threats in the wake of his legal woes with Blake Lively – with one crisis PR boss allegedly having his private health information leaked.
Lively, 37, has accused her It Ends With Us co-star, Baldoni, 41, of sexually harassing her during filming and claims he waged a negative publicity campaign against her with his production company and his PR team consisting of Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel.
Sources close to Baldoni revealed to DailyMail.com that Baldoni and several employees of The Agency Group (TAG) – set up by Nathan – have been hit with death threats in the wake of the lawsuit.
Court documents filed by Lively’s legal team also include addresses of several of the publicists involved in the scathing battle, leaving them fearful for their families.
One TAG employee has even been forced to build a gate in order to access her property, over fears her family will be attacked.
‘I’ve had to tell my child’s school that we’ve had death threats,’ the source told DailyMail.com. ‘We even had to build a gate for security because the court filings have essentially doxxed us.
Justin Baldoni and his PR team have been hit by a barrage of anonymous death threats in the wake of his legal woes with Blake Lively – allegedly because of her listing their personal information in her lawsuit
Lively, 37, has accused Baldoni, 41, of sexually harassing her during filming and claims he waged a negative publicity campaign against her with his production company and his PR team
Photos shared with DailyMail.com show threatening messages sent to both Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan. In this email sent to Abel, the person says she’s the ‘Hitler of publicists’
‘One woman has two small children under four and has been afraid to leave her house because of the sheer number of threats sent.
‘Private home addresses have been leaked in the court documents, which have been pushed by Lively’s team.
‘That’s then been shared on social media, and we have people threatening to harm anyone who works for the company, and their families.
‘What they are doing to private people through their actions has caused despicable situations.’
Some of the threats, obtained by DailyMail.com, call Nathan and Abel the ‘Hitler of publicists’, and branded the team as ‘terrorist evil’.
One simply wrote: ‘I hope you f***ing die’, and ‘I hope you never reproduce’, while another email was titled ‘It Ends With You.’
Death threat sent to The Agency Group (TAG), which was set up by Nathan, saying they’d ‘bury you’ ‘in the Mojave’
Email sent to veteran communications strategist Melissa Nathan through TAG. Her text message exchange with Jennifer Abel was leaked as part of Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit with Baldoni
The source also claimed that there has been a ‘huge wave of Anti-Semitism’ towards the group, with this direct message accusing the employees of being ‘zionist’
Another said: ‘I’m going to enjoy watching you be destroyed’, with another writing: ‘I hope your life is miserable, I hope you experience the worst pain ever.’
The source also claimed that there has been a ‘huge wave of Anti-Semitism’ towards the group, with another employee being terrified for the welfare of her elderly parents who she cares for.
Prosecutors in Illinois also revealed last week that a suspect who committed arson at Steve Sarowitz’s family home after threatening to kidnap their daughter if they did not hand over $80,000 in cash.
Sarowitz co-founded the film studio Wayfarer with Justin Baldoni and has bankrolled its movies, including It Ends with Us, but has recently shut down due to the ongoing lawsuit.
Eduardo Aragon, 25, was arrested and charged with setting a garbage can on fire in the driveway of the $1.8milion house in Highland Park around 3.25am on April 28.
The garbage can was filled with paint cans and other flammable accelerants. It burned to the ground and damaged the home’s lawn.
Jennifer Abel has been receiving a litany of death threats in the wake of the Lively sexual harassment lawsuit
Unapproved Instagram comments on Abel’s page, both shaming and wishing for her downfall
Another threatening message was sent to Abel that wished her ‘life is miserable’ and that she would ‘experience the worst pain ever’ for dragging Taylor Swift’s name into a ‘smear campaign’
Aragon allegedly sent messages to Sarowitz’s wife and daughters’ number, saying if they refused to hand over the cash then they would kidnap her.
‘If you fail to comply, we will take [daughter’s name] hostage and she won’t make graduation, at that point, we will ask for more money,’ the message said.
‘If you guys are prepared to spend a hundred million to ruin the lives of Ms. Lively and her family, we are sure you can spare a few for your daughter.’
Another message was sent to the daughter identifying her college and the address of her sorority house which she frequently visits, adding: ‘You guys are not untouchable. You can upgrade your security all you want and that still won’t stop us.
‘We are prepared to ruin all your lives over a little bit of money. The next fire we start will be from the inside.’
The FBI coordinated with the Highland Park Police Department to use technology and warrants to isolate the sender and arrested Aragon last week.
Steve Sarowitz (center), who co-founded the film studio Wayfarer which bankrolled the It Ends With Us movie, had a person arson his home after threatening to kidnap their daughter if they did not hand over $80,000 in cash
Eduardo Aragon, 25, was accused of allegedly sending messages to Sarowitz’s wife (left) and daughters’ (right) number, saying if they refused to hand over the cash then they would kidnap her
Aragon (pictured) was arrested and charged with setting a garbage can on fire in the driveway of the $1.8million house in Highland Park around 3.25am on April 28
Aragon was charged with one count of arson, six counts of intimidation and one count of harassment through electronic communication.
Lively’s team is also accused of releasing private health information about Jed Wallace, who works as a ‘fixer’ for Baldoni.
Jed Wallace, 51, says he was dragged into the actress’s bitter legal battle with Baldoni after she listed him as a defendant in her administrative complaint filed against her co-star in December.
Her filing described Wallace as a Texas-based contractor ‘who weaponized a digital army’ to help ‘create, seed, and promote’ social media content attacking her and defending Baldoni.
As part of court filings, Lively’s team details that Wallace has ‘suffered a life-threatening heart incident’ because of the stress caused by attempts to serve him in relation to the case.
Documents claim that her ‘persistent efforts’ to serve him caused his heart condition to flare up and spend some time in hospital. Ultimately, she did not serve Wallace.
Sarowitz announced on Friday that the Wayfarer Foundation was shutting down amid Baldoni’s legal war with Lively
Lively’s team is also accused of releasing private health information about Jed Wallace, who works as a ‘fixer’ for Baldoni after she listed him as a defendant in her administrative complaint filed against her co-star in December
Documents claim that her ‘persistent efforts’ to serve him caused his heart condition to flare up and spend some time in hospital. Ultimately, she did not serve Wallace
However, he lodged a separate lawsuit in February, as she wrongly named him as an alleged harasser.
Described as a ‘precursor to a lawsuit’, the document was attached to the original civil rights complaint that Lively filed in California on December 20 to kick off legal hostilities against her It Ends with Us co-star.
When the actress’s actual federal complaint was filed 11 days later, neither Wallace nor his Street Relations crisis management firm were among those accused, his lawyers say.
But it was too late to stop media outlets from wrongly naming him and his company as defendants as they relied on the version Lively’s team had already distributed to the press.
The mix-up meant Texas-based Wallace was wrongly accused of harassment and retaliation against Lively by the media, his suit filed in Federal court states.
He is suing for emotional harm and loss of business and asking for damages exceeding $1,000,000.
While Lively didn’t list Wallace as a defendant in her December 31 lawsuit, she did accuse him within the text of acting as a ‘hired gun’ for Baldoni and Nathan
In his filing, Wallace says his business helps clients to ‘navigate real-life human crisis, threats, trauma and mental health concerns.’
While Lively didn’t list Wallace as a defendant in her December 31 lawsuit, she did accuse him within the text of acting as a ‘hired gun’ for Baldoni and Nathan.
Baldoni has subsequently hit back and sued the actress and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, 48, for $400million, saying her allegations were defamatory and false, and accusing her of attempting to hijack the project.
The legal battle has already seen some zingers aired in court, among them Baldoni’s claim that she tried to threaten him with Reynolds and erstwhile best friend Taylor Swift – referring to the superstars as ‘my dragons’ and comparing herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi.
Lively has also been accused of failing to read the novel on which the movie is based until well after filming started and forcing Baldoni and his family to sit in the basement during the premiere.
Attention has now turned to who else could be subpoenaed in the case, with Reynolds odds-on to have his communications scrutinized by Baldoni’s team.
One accusation brought forth by Baldoni’s lawsuit was that Lively forced Baldoni and his family to sit in the basement during the premiere of It Ends With Us
Baldoni has subsequently hit back and sued the actress and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, 48, for $400million, saying her allegations were defamatory and false, and accusing her of attempting to hijack the project
Last week, speculation arose around Swift and Reynolds’ friend Hugh Jackman with reports saying that they too are facing a legal grilling.
Superstar singer Swift is reportedly furious over being dragged into the case and has not been photographed with Lively for months.
One person who has already got one is publicist Stephanie Jones, who is also being sued by Baldoni after she allegedly turned over a phone belonging to his publicist and her former employee, Jennifer Abel.
The messages on the phone between Abel and crisis PR Melissa Nathan were later used as the basis for Lively’s claims of a smear campaign, although Baldoni’s team hit back saying the texts were selectively edited and released the conversations in full.
Jones denied handing over the texts as a favor, arguing in court papers that she turned the device over only after receiving a subpoena last October.
But her claims led to fresh embarrassment for Lively after DailyMail.com revealed the subpoena had arisen from a ‘sham’ lawsuit filed by her company Vanzan against anonymous Does 1-10 which was dropped before the 37-year-old’s sex assault case was filed.
Baldoni claimed that Lively referred to herself as Khalessi and Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift as her ‘dragons’. In the latest twist, Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelci unfollowed Reynolds on Instagram
DailyMail.com recent reveal of Lively’s ‘sham’ lawsuit had Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman furiously responding that it was ‘done in bad faith and constitutes a flagrant abuse of process’
The revelation prompted a furious response from Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman who described the Vanzan suit as a ‘sham’.
‘Ms. Lively’s and Mr. Reynolds’ company Vanzan had nothing to do with this case, and they knew it,’ Freedman said in a statement.
‘This sham lawsuit was designed to obtain subpoena power without oversight or scrutiny, and in doing so denied my clients the ability to contest the propriety, nature, and scope of the subpoena.
‘There is nothing normal about this. Officers of the court have a duty of candor to the court and an obligation not to file fictitious lawsuits that have no basis in fact or law.
‘This was done in bad faith and constitutes a flagrant abuse of process.’
