A new court filing appears to tie Scooter Braun more tightly to the entertainment industry’s emerging defamation website saga. Hollywood Reporter The secret operation was first revealed in February.
The scandal initially came to light through a lawsuit linked to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni And it ends with us Legal Warfare, which is scheduled to go on trial next May. The lawsuit, filed by publicist Stephanie Jones, alleged a “cottage industry” of defamatory anonymous websites that operated through a shared playbook organized by Melissa Nathan, Baldoni’s crisis publicist, and online reformer Jed Wallace. The second lawsuit filed in February by actress-turned-activist Alexa Nichols, who was the target of one of these smear sites, also named Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Friedman, as a defendant.
Jones and Nicholas assert that they uncovered digital smear campaigns, in which perpetrators destroyed their reputations by claiming, without proof, that opponents were involved in – among other activities – prostitution, embezzlement, drug dealing, extortion and human trafficking. These efforts appear to have relied on a mix of puppet accounts across social media platforms, which promoted false claims related to discrediting websites. In response to Jones’ lawsuit, Friedman previously denied this THR He and his associates were involved in the activity and described the allegations as “speculation presented as fact.”
Now, in an updated complaint, Nicholas asserts that her name is linked, through hidden Internet SEO infrastructure, to financier Peter Komissar, Brown’s former legal opponent. Komisar was previously involved in a $200 million dispute over a private equity fund with Brown and senior music manager David Polnow, which became public in 2021. “This overlap…appears to be evidence of the use of joint strategies against Ms. Nicholas and Mr. Komissar,” her attorney wrote.
In his lawsuit against the music executives, Comisar alleged that “Bolnow stated that Brown would destroy Comisar’s original reputation,” and that Brown “insinuated a smear campaign intended to discredit Comisar.” [he] It will be unleashed.” Several websites and social media accounts have raised questions about Komisar’s personal and professional history.
Brown made his name by shepherding the careers of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato before evolving into a mogul with ownership stakes in a group of entertainment assets that were later acquired by South Korean giant Hype in 2021. Following the sale, Brown served for a period as CEO of its US subsidiary.
A veteran investment banker, Comisar previously held senior positions at Goldman Sachs and Guggenheim Securities before founding Story3, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on consumer brands including Land’s End and Sur La Table. He is also a director and major shareholder of Rent the Runway.
He did not respond to any of the aforementioned parties THR Requests for comment.
Komisar is not the first Brown opponent to appear on a smear website. Jones’ lawsuit also revealed that an anonymous website targeting prominent K-pop music executive Min Hye Jin was linked to other apparent targets. Min, the former CEO of Hybe’s label ADOR and a Svengali-like figure behind groups like Girls’ Generation and NewJeans, has become embroiled in her own legal battle with Braun’s Hybe.
In an Instagram post in January, she wrote that she met with a lawyer “currently handling lawsuits in the United States to uncover what happened.” [Nathan’s firm] TAG PR has been at a really high level,” he said, adding, “The pieces are starting to come together.”
Min did not mention the details of these pieces. But the available information indicates her possible thinking.
Hybe’s US subsidiary acquired a controlling stake in TAG PR while Brown served as CEO of the entertainment company. The company abandoned it in 2025, the same year that Polnow — a close friend and business partner of Brown, who previously served as chief operating officer of Hybe America — created the LLC in partnership with Wallace, according to California business filings. Meanwhile, in his deposition, Jones detailed how Nathan allegedly did crisis work for Bolno after the singer died in 2023 of a fatal overdose in the married executive’s Miami hotel suite. (Polnow described the death as a “terrible tragedy” but denied responsibility.)
Hebe didn’t respond THRRequest for comment.
Lively’s attorney, Sigrid McCauley, on April 2 crafted her client’s case around the issue of retaliation and its consequences. “For Blake Lively, the greatest measure of justice is that the people and rules of the game behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and actually held accountable,” she said.
