Zac Brown Wins Legal Battle Against Ex-Wife Over Confidential Business Records

Zac Brown has emerged victorious in a legal dispute against his ex-wife, model and actress Kelly Yazdi, who has been ordered to return confidential business records taken during their divorce in 2024. The Zac Brown Band frontman has been embroiled in a feud with Yazdi in Atlanta federal court concerning sensitive financial and strategic documents belonging to Zac Brown Collective (ZBC).

ZBC manages Brown’s extensive business interests, including music rights, merchandise sales, and his Z. Alexander Brown wine brand. Following a bench trial, Judge William M. Ray II ruled in Brown’s favor on January 12, issuing a permanent injunction against Yazdi.

Judge Ray stated, "Unfortunately, the court cannot accept Ms. Yazdi’s assurances that she will not disclose the confidential information she possesses. Indeed, her very conduct in secretly taking confidential documents from ZBC when she knew she was leaving the company, coupled with her apparent animosity towards Mr. Brown reflected in her continuous social media posts, speak strongly to the possibility that she may act to harm Mr. Brown."

The court order mandates Yazdi to immediately return all business records to Brown and prohibits her from disclosing any information contained within those documents. Brad Beckworth, Brown’s lawyer, expressed gratitude for the court's decision, stating, "The evidence at trial showed that Ms. Yazdi betrayed Zac’s trust, took critical confidential information that didn’t belong to her, and used it to attack him publicly for her own gain. The permanent injunction should put an end to it."

Yazdi is appealing Judge Ray’s injunction. Her attorney, Josh Belinfante, stated that they “respectfully disagree” with the ruling. Belifante added, "Mr. Brown’s team knows that Ms. Yazdi already destroyed the responsive emails she sent herself, which is something she offered to do after Mr. Brown lost his first motion to restrain her from speaking. As her lawyers, we will continue to defend her rights before the courts, including her rights not to be subject to a contract she refused to sign."

Brown and Yazdi's relationship began in 2021 after they met in Hawaii. Yazdi subsequently joined Zac Brown Collective, initially as a social media coordinator and later as executive VP.

The couple married in August 2023, but their marriage was short-lived. Brown initiated divorce proceedings less than four months later. In early 2024, as the divorce progressed and Yazdi prepared to depart from Zac Brown Collective, she transferred nearly 200 documents from her work email to her personal account.

Brown filed a lawsuit against Yazdi in May 2024, alleging that she breached a confidentiality clause in her employment contract by taking these files. The documents included sensitive financial valuations for Brown’s music catalog and wine brand, employee salary details, contractual terms for endorsements, touring data, and music marketing strategies.

Yazdi refuted any wrongdoing, asserting that she required the documents for the divorce proceedings and never intended to disseminate them publicly. However, Judge Ray's January 12 ruling indicated that Yazdi had already utilized the records to “fuel her public attacks on Mr. Brown.”

The judge cited Yazdi’s social media posts from 2024 featuring butterflies—a reference to Brown’s then-unreleased 2025 collaboration with Dolly Parton, “Butterfly.” Judge Ray noted that Yazdi’s posts, which included butterfly imagery, a butterfly-themed poem, and the hashtag #ButterfliesDontBelongInNets, coincided with the song’s original marketing dates as specified in the documents she had forwarded to herself.

“If Ms. Yazdi further uses or discloses any of the confidential information she took from ZBC, plaintiffs would suffer considerable harm, including salary disputes and loss of trust with employees, the loss of goodwill and business opportunities, damage to Mr. Brown’s and ZBC’s reputations, and harm to plaintiffs’ business dealings and relationships with third parties,” the judge wrote.

Judge Ray concluded that Yazdi had indeed breached her employment agreement, necessitating an injunction to safeguard Brown’s business interests. As Brown did not seek financial damages, the injunction represents the final step in the case before any potential appeal.

The divorce between the former couple was finalized in 2025. Brown is now engaged to jewelry designer Kendra Scott.