New Court Filings Expose Hollywood Publicist’s Alleged Smear Campaign
- Stephanie Jones is pursuing a defamation suit in federal court against crisis communications strategists and former clients, revealing court documents that detail an alleged secret smear campaign targeting...
- According to new filings submitted by Jones, publicist Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group PR, known as TAG, committed perjury and concealed evidence regarding her involvement in creating...
- 18, 2024, titled Items I’m working at the moment, references Wallace's participation and lists several projects.
Stephanie Jones is pursuing a defamation suit in federal court against crisis communications strategists and former clients, revealing court documents that detail an alleged secret smear campaign targeting industry figures. Jones handled public relations for both Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, and her current litigation has exposed a network of anonymously operated websites used to publish damaging assertions.
New Evidence Details Alleged Smear Machine Operations
According to new filings submitted by Jones, publicist Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group PR, known as TAG, committed perjury and concealed evidence regarding her involvement in creating the websites. Jones cites new evidence including text messages, emails, and invoices obtained from a former Nathan employee. Nathan previously swore under oath that she was not involved in creating the websites, but the paper trail suggests otherwise. In one instance, an email showed Nathan giving direct editing instructions to an employee to make draft copy a lot more meaty and suitable to point a journalist toward. The filings compare contemporaneous notes taken by Nathan’s employee from a May 2024 phone call regarding a planned site attacking Jones with language that appeared on an anonymized site two days later. The documents also outline coordination with fixer Jed Wallace to publish material with the intent that it would remain untraceable. Wallace has denied involvement in the alleged scheme, and Nathan did not respond to a request for comment.
Internal Emails Point to Multiple Unreported Clients
An email sent by the TAG employee to Nathan on Oct. 18, 2024, titled Items I’m working at the moment, references Wallace’s participation and lists several projects. The note includes site drafting for the Alexander Brothers, the former real estate agents convicted of running a sex-trafficking conspiracy. The New York Times reported that TAG worked with them around the time a mysterious website appeared. The email also references site drafting and updates for Amanda Ghost, an endeavor connected to ongoing cases. Additional listed items include LMDV and Jessica Serfaty, detailing calls, crisis plans, and site drafting following Serfaty’s brief abuse accusation against her then-fiancée in July 2024. Another listed item, Hiya, likely refers to Hiya Health for a crisis scenario plan. Tamara Rubin, who runs the Lead Safe Mama resource, previously stated that a targeted website materialized in October 2024 alongside defaming Wikipedia edits.
