Kevin Hart and fellow comedian Jonathan Todd Jackson’s 15-year friendship may have soured, but Jackson is finally clear of the charges filed against him by Hart.
Last week it was announced that Jackson’s criminal case in connection to Hart’s 2017 leaked sex tape had been dismissed on Sept. 29. Jackson’s been fighting those charges and maintaining his innocence since May 2018.
His attorney, Jacob Glucksman, said Friday to City News Service, “I’m really glad to see the end result of the case being dismissed. It took a really long time for my client to get justice. He never committed any criminal offense against Kevin Hart or anyone else. There was never any demand made for any money. There was never any extortion attempt.”
According to Glucksman, Hart also gave his nod of approval in the dismissal of the case. He said “Kevin Hart was in agreement with the dismissal of the case” adding that the former long-time friends have even “engaged in ongoing amicable discussions to resolve their personal issues.”
After video of Hart’s Las Vegas tryst with a woman named Montia Sabbag leaked in 2017, his name immediately hit headlines and he quickly attempted to do damage control by apologizing to his wife Eniko Hart, who was pregnant at the time with their son Kenzo Hart.
Jackson was initially arrested and charged with extortion and extortion by letter in 2018. Later prosecutors amended the charges to Jackson’s case adding two counts of identity theft and one count of attempted concealing, selling, or withholding of stolen property exceeding $950 in value.
In September 2019, the attempted extortion charge was dropped because there was no evidence that Jackson had ever asked for money from Hart when the tape leaked. Three months later, TMZ reported that two more charges — attempted concealing and selling stolen property and unauthorized use of personal identification — were dropped due to “insufficient evidence.”
At that time, Jackson only had one count of identity theft he was facing, but then prosecutors filed again to add the count of identity theft that had been dismissed.
