A New York personal injury lawyer who was accused by his former partner of having affairs with their firm’s secretaries and then lying about it to his partner has shot back with a suit that claims the allegations were made as part of a shakedown scheme.

Frank Eskesen said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court that his partner Kenneth Marder demanded $1.5 million in exchange for a peaceful breakup of their law firm, Marder, Eskesen & Nass. The suit claims Marder and his lawyers at Kent, Beatty & Gordon followed up on the threat by filing a suit on Nov. 22 that accused Eskesen of serial sexual misconduct and harassment of the firm’s secretaries.