Tom Sandoval & Ariana Madix Sued by Rachel Leviss Over Scandoval

2:41 PM PT -- Rachel’s lawyer Mark Geragos tells TMZ … "This lawsuit is squarely about illegal behavior and those who traffic in it and enable it. Rachel has apologized for her part in an affair. That’s not a crime. Tom and Ariana are alleged here to have engaged in criminal acts. They then doubled down and used those actions to shame, bully, belittle, and intentionally try to destroy Rachel’s mental health."

Geragos adds, "The law makes it clear that recording someone without their consent and distributing that illegal recording is punishable by law; however, doing so while knowingly enticing them to engage in sexual acts deserves the harshest of penalties allowable under the law."

Rachel Leviss is taking Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix to court -- and it mostly has to do with this intimate video she says they circulated with the cast.

The former "Vanderpump Rules" star just filed a lawsuit against her ex-lover and ex-friend -- both of whom were her costars for a long time before the Scandoval blew up last year -- and in her docs, obtained by TMZ, she's alleging a number of things ... including revenge porn.

Rachel claims Ariana became privy to at least 2 recordings that were on Tom's phone -- which she says depicted her in a state of undress and masturbating ... clips she alleges were taken without her knowledge or permission while she was involved in an affair with Tom.

In the suit, Rachel claims Tom must've recorded these FaceTime chats secretly ... 'cause she says she wasn't aware he had them saved. In any case ... RL says when Ariana stumbled across the footage ... she allegedly shared it with other 'VPR' cast members.

Rachel claims Ariana confronted her in March 2023 -- before the Scandoval officially broke -- and sent her the two illicit videos in question ... and AM allegedly said Rachel was dead to her.

She also claims Scheana Shay attacked her after this ... which led her to believe that Scheana had also seen the videos, not to mention other costars from the reality show.

In addition to these claims, Rachel alleges Bravo and the production company behind the show fostered an unsafe and hostile work environment for Rachel once the Scandoval broke ... allowing cast members to dogpile her and berate her during the reunion filming.

Worth noting, Rachel is not suing Bravo here ... just Tom and Ariana for now, and a bunch of unidentified Does whom she says might've been party to all this stuff.

Also worth mentioning -- her attorneys are the same ones who've filed suits on behalf of other Bravo stars of late. We've reached out to Tom and Ariana ... so far, no word back.

We covered it all on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.