Kevin Hart's former friend, Jonathan "J.T." Jackson, is suing him for $12 million after claiming the comedian breached their 2021 written settlement agreement that called on Hart to publicly exonerate him of "baseless extortion allegations" involving Hart's 2017 sex tape and cheating scandal.
According to court documents obtained by ET, Jackson claims the two sides came to a written settlement agreement in July 2021, "which required Hart to pursue and advocate for the dismissal of all criminal charges against [him] and make a public statement exonerating him."
Jackson was the target of an extortion investigation involving a tape showing Hart, 45, with a woman that wasn't his wife, Eniko Parrish, 39, who, at the time, was pregnant with the couple's first child, Kenzo. The woman Hart was involved with on that tape -- recorded in August 2017 in his suite at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas -- was later identified as Montia Sabbag, who also later denied she attempted to extort Hart. She ultimately filed a $60 million lawsuit against Hart and Jackson, claiming the two former friends conspired to create the scandal to hype the comedian's Irresponsible Tour. According to Rolling Stone, her lawsuit was dismissed in June 2023.
Jonathan "JT" Jackson in 2015.
ET has reached out to Hart's team for comment.
Jackson, who is suing Hart for breach of written contract, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress, had initially been charged with, among other things, one count each of attempted extortion and extortion by threatening letter. Prosecutors eventually dropped the entire criminal case against Jackson, who claims that it was Hart and his lawyers who helped initiate a raid at his home and the subsequent charges.
"In the aftermath of the scandal, false extortion claims were filed against [Jackson], resulting in [Jackson] being wrongly accused," Jackson states in court documents. "Although Hart did not personally accuse [Jackson] at this stage, he contributed to the initiation of these false claims."
Kevin Hart on Jan. 5, 2024 in Doral, Florida.
In his lawsuit, Jackson asserts Hart "claimed to have received an extortion email" on April 27, 2018 from someone "demanding 20 bitcoins to prevent the release of the sex tape, which had already been publicly released eight months earlier." That alleged email, Jackson claims, proved to be the driving force behind his arrest three days later.
"During [Jackson's] arrest on April 30, 2018, a voice recording captured [a DA Investigator] specifically stating that [Jackson] was responsible for the extortion email that Hart allegedly received on April 27, 2018," the court documents state. "This statement underscored the centrality of the fabricated email in justifying [Jackson's] arrest and prosecution."
Jackson claims there's also evidence to support that the alleged extortion email was fabricated.
"Strangely, the extortion email which Hart claimed to have received and forwarded to his legal team, which subsequently forwarded to the DA's office, lacked any forwarding headers," Jackson states in court documents. "Forwarding headers are essential for verifying the chain of custody and authenticity of an email. The absence of these headers within the extortion email further undermined its credibility and strongly suggests that it was not an authentic forwarded email, but rather a document that had been purportedly created or manipulated."
Kevin Hart and his wife, Eniko Parrish, arrive at the premiere of "Jumanji: The Next Level" on Dec. 9, 2019 in Hollywood, California.
Jackson claims that a forensics expert determined "that the extortion email was created in Microsoft Word 2013 on May 17, 2019, over a year after the alleged extortion attempt." Jackson goes on to claim that this critical finding, determined by analyzing the metadata of the extortion email, "indicates that the extortion email was not the original but rather a fabricated document."
As for the breach of written contract, Jackson claims the written settlement agreement called on Hart to utilize "specific verbiage agreed upon by all parties to clarify [Jackson's] innocence and remediate the reputational damage he sustained." The court documents state Hart "was to go live and post a video on his Instagram account, using the exact wording specified in the Contract, and leave it up for at least 24 hours."
According to Jackson, the contract purportedly stated that Hart promised to say on his Instagram video -- posted on Oct. 27, 2021 -- that he was "proud to say that all charges against JT Jackson have been dropped and he is not guilty and had nothing to do with it."
Eniko Parrish and Kevin Hart at a movie premiere on Sept. 24, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
Instead, Jackson claims Hart "chose to manipulate the narrative, shifting the focus to himself rather than vindicating [Jackson]." Jackson further claims that "the message that Hart was required to deliver, per the Contract, was to clear [Jackson's] name unequivocally and restore his reputation."
Jackson -- a former pro bowler and actor who had a minor role in Hart's 2014 film, Think Like a Man Too -- said this ordeal has exacerbated his PTSD and "caused significant mental health struggles, while the professional impact included lost job opportunities and a tarnished public image."
He claims that he's faced "significant challenges in securing acting roles due to the shadow of the unfounded allegations, as well as difficulties in finding other employment such as rideshare and delivery jobs for UBER and LYFT, where background checks highlighted the extortion case against him."
Kevin Hart with his family -- son Hendrix Hart, son Kenzo Hart, wife Eniko Parrish, daughter Kaori Hart and daughter Heaven Hart at the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at The Kennedy Center on March 24, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Jackson's attorneys, Daniel L. Reback and Jeremy D. Smith of Krane & Smith, APC released a statement to ET regarding the lawsuit, which reads, "The forensic evidence raises serious questions about the validity of the email evidence used against our client. Additionally, the breach of contract by Mr. Hart has caused significant harm to Mr. Jackson’s reputation. We are committed to ensuring a fair and just outcome for Mr. Jackson."
Hart shares two children with ex-wife, Torrei -- daughter Heaven Leigh, 19, and son Hendrix, 16. He also shares two children with wife Eniko -- son Kenzo, 6, and daughter Kaori, 3. Hart and Eniko addressed the cheating scandal in his 2019 Netflix docuseries, Don't F**k This Up.
"How I found out was a DM. I don't know who it was," Parrish said on the show. "They sent me an edited video of Kevin and, you know, another woman. I was pregnant at that time, I was about seven or eight months pregnant. I was having breakfast, I opened my phone and immediately I just lost it. I called him, I'm crying, I'm like, pissed. Right then and there, I kept saying, 'How the f**k did you let that happen?'"
"You publicly humiliated me," she continued. "Everything’s on Instagram, everything's on social media. It was an ongoing fight all the time. Every single day. I kept questioning him, like, 'If this is what you’re gonna do, I don’t want to be a part of that.'"
Hart would later call cheating on his wife the "lowest moment of my life."
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