U.S. soccer legend and current San Diego Wave president Jill Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit this week against a former employee who had alleged Ellis was an abusive boss. In the suit, Ellis says the former employee used a fake email account to bolster her claims about Ellis.
The NWSL team’s former video and creative manager, Brittany Alvarado, was the first of several past employees who made allegations of a toxic workplace under Ellis earlier this month. “On behalf of myself and my former colleagues, the treatment we endured under club President Jill Ellis has been nothing short of life-altering and devastating to our mental health,” Alvarado posted on social media July 3. She also posted a screenshot of an email she said came from a person in senior leadership calling her “the most pathetic person” they’d ever met.
The complaint says Alvarado created or was involved with a fake Hotmail account to pose as team VP of marketing and PR Justyne Freud to send those messages. According to the suit, one of those emails went to league commissioner Jessica Berman saying Freud was resigning, a decision largely influenced by working with Ellis, and another tried to fire a Wave employee. Freud still works for the team, ESPN reported Tuesday. The complaint also says “what is believed to be a burner phone” was used to text a player a negative message about Ellis.
Alvarado filed a complaint with the league Feb. 5, and an investigation found no violations of NWSL policy or the law.
“[Alvarado] knowingly included Ellis in the False and Defamatory Statements, despite not making any allegations against Ellis in her earlier anonymous complaint to the League, and did so to capitalize on Ellis’ renown, intentionally expand the reach of her False and Defamatory Statements, and magnify the injuries that those statements would cause to Ellis,” the suit reads. The complaint says Ellis has lost several speaking engagements and an honorary degree from a “prestigious university” since the allegations were revealed.
The lawsuit does not name the other three employees who made claims against the team as defendants. On the day of the social media storm, Wave forward and longtime USWNT forward Alex Morgan posted she was “disappointed to hear about the allegations” and said “it is clear that there is so much work to be done.”
To handle her defamation lawsuit, Ellis hired Harder Stonerock LLP. The firm is no stranger to high-profile defamation suits, representing Donald Trump against Stormy Daniels, Melania Trump against the Daily Mail, and Hulk Hogan in the case that brought down Gawker Media, to name a few.
Attorneys for Ellis declined to comment. Representatives for Alvarado did not respond to Front Office Sports’ request for comment.
“Our client, a courageous former employee, has stepped forward to exercise her First Amendment rights, shining a light on the pervasive gender discrimination and emotional abuse within the organization,” Alvarado’s attorney Casey Hultin told ESPN. “Her voice, echoing the experiences of many, calls for immediate and substantial change to protect both staff and athletes from further harm.”
