A former buddy of Kevin Hart has accused Hart in a lawsuit of submitting fabricated proof to the Los Angeles County district legal professional’s workplace stemming from his 2017 intercourse tape scandal, and alleging that investigators accepted the proof and acted upon it with out correct vetting.
In an amended grievance filed Aug. 6 in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, Jonathan “J.T.” Jackson — who sued the “Get Laborious” star in July for breach of written contract — additional alleged that Hart and the D.A.’s workplace contributed to false extortion accusations in opposition to him that harm his popularity.
Representatives for Hart didn’t instantly reply to The Occasions’ requests for remark.
Jonathan “J.T.” Jackson, left — a Navy veteran, skilled bowler and actor — has up to date his lawsuit in opposition to comic Kevin Hart.
(Arnold Turner/ Chris Pizzello / Related Press)
Jackson — a Navy veteran, skilled bowler and actor — sued Hart for allegedly botching a settlement settlement meant to clear Jackson’s title referring to the fallout from Hart’s 2017 scandal. He accused Hart of not utilizing the “meticulously negotiated” and agreed-upon wording from their 2021 settlement when Hart addressed the scandal in an Instagram put up that very same 12 months, leading to July’s $12-million breach of written contract lawsuit that Jackson up to date final week.
Jackson’s amended grievance features a transcript of a 2017 interview of Hart by D.A.’s investigator Robin Letourneau mentioned to substantiate “a number of key factors” that refute the claims made in opposition to Jackson and present that Hart allegedly instigated felony extortion expenses that led to Jackson’s arrest.
The amended grievance mentioned that Hart and his authorized staff “fabricated proof and supplied deceptive statements that contributed and led to [Jackson’s] wrongful implication and arrest.” In line with the unique grievance, the alleged proof was an April 2018 e-mail addressed to Hart by somebody recognized as Juan Carlos Yépez, who demanded 20 bitcoins to forestall the tape’s launch (after the tape had been launched eight months earlier). The e-mail, a duplicate of which is included within the grievance, additionally included accusations of molestation and tried rape.
Jackson, 47, was the goal of a January 2018 raid at his dwelling by which he and his spouse had been held at gunpoint by investigators with the district legal professional’s workplace. Investigators had been trying into allegations of extortion within the raid, which Jackson believes Hart’s allegations instigated. Jackson was arrested just a few months later, and the grievance mentioned a voice recording made throughout his arrest captured Letourneau “particularly stating that Plaintiff was accountable for the extortion e-mail that Hart allegedly obtained on April 27, 2018.”
Jackson claimed in his lawsuit that the extortion report hinged on the e-mail, and he argued that it had not been correctly authenticated, though Hart claimed to have forwarded it to his authorized staff, which then forwarded it to the D.A. However the e-mail lacked forwarding headers and different digital markers, main Jackson to imagine that it was probably fabricated, in accordance with the lawsuit. Nevertheless, Jackson alleged, investigators had been anticipated to additional scrutinize and confirm the digital proof however allegedly didn’t and the e-mail was nonetheless used to prosecute him.
“The District Lawyer’s blanket reliance on Hart’s authentication, regardless of clear discrepancies, raises important doubts in regards to the validity of the proof and the thoroughness of its verification,” the lawsuit mentioned.
A spokesperson for the district legal professional’s workplace mentioned Friday that the workplace didn’t touch upon pending litigation.
Jackson, who additionally goes by “Motion Jackson,” was charged in Could 2018 with making an attempt to extort cash from Hart after claiming to have a secret video of the comic partaking in extramarital intercourse in Las Vegas in August 2017. The fees had been finally dropped by prosecutors (whom Jackson additionally sued in December), however Jackson claimed that his “popularity was unjustly tarnished because of a collection of malicious actions by the defendants,” together with when Hart launched the 2019 Netflix docuseries “Don’t F— This Up.” Within the collection, Hart talked about extortion and alleged that Jackson had been concerned within the creation and dissemination of the intercourse tape. Jackson was later cleared of all expenses introduced in opposition to him by the D.A. A $60-million lawsuit filed by Montia Sabbag, the mannequin who appeared with Hart within the intercourse tape, was dismissed in 2020.
Hart informed Letourneau that nobody else was in his non-public bed room inside his suite on the night time of the intercourse tape recording besides Sabbag and one other feminine buddy, recognized as Morgan within the lawsuit.
“Hart emphasizes that nobody else had entry to his room,” the amended grievance mentioned. “Hart states he was discombobulated and never in charge of his actions however implies that Sabbag was conscious of the digicam’s placement. Hart suggests Sabbag knew the place to place herself and Hart to be recorded.”
Within the Sept. 18, 2017, interview transcript, the “Jumanji” and “Die Hart” star additionally admitted to taking the hallucinogenic drug Molly, claiming {that a} buddy, whose identification he didn’t reveal, pressured him to do the drug.
“F— it, I mentioned, and I put it in my drink,” Hart mentioned within the D.A. interview, which is included within the grievance. “I had some water there. It was watered down. As a result of it’s in my drink, I’m positive. I’m positive with ingesting. The night time is sweet. Because the night time goes, I’m now with the woman Montia on the finish of the night time.”
Hart mentioned that he didn’t have intercourse with Sabbag that night time, however had intercourse along with her the following morning when he “woke as much as sexual exercise.” That’s when he realized she was making an attempt to get nearer to the hidden digicam that recorded the intercourse tape, though he famous that he by no means felt Sabbag go away the mattress.
Hart additionally talked about that his pals, together with Jackson, had been downstairs in his suite for about solely 10 minutes and that his non-public bed room was upstairs. That declare contradicts “any implication that [Jackson] had a chance to put or manipulate the digicam.” Hart additionally famous that Sabbag and Morgan had been the one individuals who may have taken photos or been concerned within the recording or have entry to Hart’s non-public bed room upstairs within the suite, “strengthening the declare that Plaintiff was not concerned,” the grievance mentioned.
“I’m a calculated man. And I understand how to maneuver. There’s no approach, there’s no approach that I can [be] videotaped sleeping in mattress with any person else within the room with me not having data of an individual within the room,” Hart mentioned in interview, including that he “100%” believes that it was all “calculated” by Sabbag through the time he was sleeping in mattress by himself.
Hart additionally defined how he later realized in regards to the intercourse tape being “shopped” round to movie star media retailers, indicating a give attention to promoting the tape slightly than extortion, the grievance mentioned.
Hart acknowledged that he was “knowledgeable” in regards to the video by an individual from Media Take Out, circuitously by the purported vendor, “highlighting that he was circuitously contacted or threatened or extorted,” in accordance with the lawsuit. He was informed that the tape wouldn’t “come low cost” and that it may spoil his profession, “framing it as a gross sales pitch and enterprise deal slightly than a direct menace … supporting that it was a negotiation to promote the video, not extortion.”
The grievance mentioned that Hart’s representatives engaged on this alleged negotiation and that the vendor of the intercourse tape had no concept that she or he was negotiating with Hart’s representatives. The actor-comedian, a vendor recognized within the paperwork as a “Hollywood Intercourse Tape Dealer” named Kevin Blatt and Fred Mwangaguhunga from Media Take Out negotiated a value for the recording, “reinforcing the transactional nature of the interplay,” the grievance alleged.
In a Friday assertion to The Occasions, Mwangaguhunga,, mentioned that neither he nor Media Take Out “has ever engaged in any negotiation for a intercourse tape.”
“That’s unlawful. We had been approached by an individual seeking to promote a purported video of Kevin Hart, and we instantly notified his representatives. Weeks later, regulation enforcement requested us for a duplicate of the e-mail solicitation and we supplied it,” Mwangaguhungasaid. “To be clear, it isn’t true that I, or any consultant of Media Take Out, solicited or entered into any enterprise settlement over an unlawful video. It is usually not true that both I, or anybody at Media Take Out, have ever acted as a consultant for Kevin Hart in any negotiation.”
Blatt informed The Occasions on Friday that he was contacted to purchase the tape however was by no means informed who the vendor was.
Letourneau confirmed underneath oath at a Sept. 23, 2019, preliminary listening to that the interplay between all events “was seen as a enterprise deal and never extortion,” Jackson’s amended grievance mentioned. “This detailed proof collectively reveals that Hart was concerned in a negotiation over the sale of the video, not extorted, which is extraordinarily essential for understanding the authorized and public notion of the incident.”
After that fated Las Vegas journey, Hart met with Sabbag in Los Angeles, which additional contradicts Hart’s “claims and narrative of being a sufferer of any crime dedicated,” the grievance mentioned.
“Moreover, officers named in [the complaint], together with members of the Los Angeles County District Lawyer’s workplace, contributed to the false accusations in opposition to [Jackson] by accepting and performing upon the fabricated proof with out correct investigation and verification. The media then sensationalized these false accusations in opposition to [Jackson], additional damaging his popularity,” the amended grievance mentioned.
“[Jackson] was wrongfully accused of extorting Hart utilizing the intercourse tape, resulting in important social {and professional} fallout. This pressured [Jackson] to navigate the authorized system and endure hostile public opinion.”
Jackson’s lawsuit initially accused Hart and his co-defendants — Hartbeat LLC and several other people recognized as John or Jane Doe — solely of breach of written contract, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional misery, however the amended grievance up to date the allegations to incorporate fraud within the inducement, malicious prosecution and defamation. Jackson claimed that the fabricated proof and fraudulent actions induced him to enter into the contract with Hart, one he argued “was seemingly designed to mitigate the fallout from the fabricated accusations” in opposition to him.
Along with $12 million, Jackson is looking for punitive damages to be decided at trial, authorized prices and charges and injunctions requiring the defendants to exonerate him, in addition to the elimination of “all of the false statements” about him in Hart’s 2019 Netflix docuseries.
