Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett has accused publisher Simon & Schuster of engaging in a “conspiracy” to steal his book proposal about the Democrats’ “lawfare” against Donald Trump and giving it to an editor for MAGA outlet Breitbart News, according to a new lawsuit.
Besides naming the publishing giant in the lawsuit, the pro-Trump Fox News personality specifically alleges that Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp, executive editor Natasha Simons, and his literary agency Vigliano Associates were involved in the plot to steal his Trump tome.
In the complaint filed last week in the Supreme Court of New York and first reported by Politico Playbook, Jarrett claims that he was approached by Simon & Schuster’s executive editor Natasha Simons in late 2023 to solicit a “new book” based on his past literary success on topics surrounding Trump.
“Defendant Simons specifically pursued Jarrett for a current events project. None of this surprised Jarrett, nor did Simons’ invitation that he ‘propose’ a topic for the book,” the suit states. “And so Jarrett did — a political book that would capitalize on the political fortunes and lawfare waged against President Donald J. Trump (‘Trump’ or the ‘President’) by his political enemies in the years after his first term as President.”
Claiming that Simons “loved” the concept and felt that the book had all the elements of being a “bestseller,” the complaint adds that she embraced the idea of Jarrett hiring a research assistant to help write the book to meet an ambitious publishing timeline. It was at this point that Vigliano Associates recommended Alex Marlow, the editor-in-chief of Breitbart News who had written two conservative books of his own.
“Jarrett accepted the recommendation and, at the urging of Simons, drafted a written proposal for the ‘book’ and shared it with Simons, Marlow, and the Literary Agents. It was the blueprint for a commercial endeavor—with Jarrett as its recognized architect and driving force,” the complaint states. “But then, as Jarrett would only discover months later, Defendants conceived, planned and executed a conspiracy amongst themselves and Marlow to publish the book conceived by Jarrett, in violation of their contractual and common law duties.”
Throughout the lawsuit, Jarrett — who has become one of Trump’s favorite legal experts due to his bestselling books decrying the Russia probe and “witch hunts” against the president — claims that the defendants pulled a fast one on him to get his idea and move it to Marlow, who was also a Vigliano Associates client. Part of this plan, according to the complaint, involved lowballing Jarrett on his book advance.
Insisting that Jarrett had “helped to usher this notion of lawfare from its esoteric origins into the forefront of the conservative zeitgeist” with his analysis and writing, the lawsuit claims that the process for the book proposal was going smoothly until mid-March 2024 during a call that involved Karp and Jarrett’s agents.
“Stopping just short of outright rejection, Karp — according to Vigliano’s retelling — offered an absurdly low advance: less than half of what Jarrett received for The Trial of the Century. It was a facially paltry offer given that current events books represent a far more lucrative market than history books,” the complaint notes. “This sum was not only untethered from the millions of dollars that Simons predicted the book would bring in: it was financially impractical, as well. Most of the proposed amount would go to covering the fees of the Literary Agents and Marlow.”
Jarrett would eventually reject the “lowball offer” from Simon & Schuster, instead asking his agents to shop the proposal around to other publishing houses. The complaint states that it wouldn’t be until October when the “conspiracy was revealed” after Jarrett heard back from Thomas Flannery, one of his agents at Vigliano Associates.
“However, the message was not to inform Jarrett of any progress in connection with his project,” the lawsuit states. “Rather, it was to let him know that Marlow had sold a book to Simon & Schuster that was ‘somewhat similar’ to the Proposal. He noted the book was ‘close enough that I don’t want you to see it and be surprised.’ Jarrett had discussed and shared this Proposal, in confidence, with Marlow at a time when the latter was acting as his agent.”
In a separate email sent in February of this year, Flannery told Jarrett that he wanted to “apologize for the way things went down on the Trump legal cases book” but that when “it didn’t work out,” the publisher “wanted to find another author to write it, and I suggested Alex.” Flannery added: “I should have let you know before approaching him.”
The upcoming book by Marlow, titled Breaking the Law, is due out this summer. “Featuring Alex Marlow’s ‘prescient’ insight, Breaking the Law effortlessly demonstrates how the American legal system has been weaponized against former President Donald Trump on purely political grounds,” the publisher’s description states.
“My proposal was to write a book that shed light on significant political and legal developments affecting the nation — the lawfare campaign against President Trump. Unfortunately, I believe my project was co-opted without my knowledge or consent,” Jarrett said in a statement about the lawsuit.
“Vigliano Associates was my fiduciary, advisor, and advocate — or so I thought,” he added. “This lawsuit aims to shine a light on a troubling record and protect the rights and integrity of authors everywhere.”
“This case is about betrayal at the highest levels of publishing — where those entrusted to champion Mr. Jarrett’s work instead allegedly conspired to exploit his ideas, misappropriate his opportunity, and enrich themselves at his expense,” Jarrett’s attorney William A. Brewer III declared.
“The defendants appear to have breached fundamental duties of trust, loyalty, and candor — core obligations that define the relationship between an author and his agents,” he continued. Jarrett seeks monetary damages, restitution of profits, and full disgorgement of any earnings from the upcoming publication, the lawsuit notes.
Representatives for Simon & Schuster, Vigliano Associates, and Marlow did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
