Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht and former partner Donald Lewis traded eye-popping accusations of racism, misogyny, drug abuse, sexual assault, defamation and extortion this week, attacking each other with such force that claims of financial mismanagement and misconduct appear as just more fragments of their crumbled relationship.

But Lewis' financial allegations are serious. He claims founder and managing partner John Pierce built the 2-year-old firm on “smoke and mirrors,” duping incoming partners about its prospects and misusing money from litigation funder Pravati Capital to prop up the firm and to cover Pierce's own improper expenses. As evidence of mismanagement, Lewis notes that name partner Jim Bainbridge was one of several defendants who settled with the Federal Trade Commission in 1996 for a telemarketing scheme.

Pravati said Friday that it had profited from its partnership with Pierce Bainbridge and no longer had a funding relationship with the firm, and Pierce called Lewis' allegations nonsense. But Pierce acknowledged that Bainbridge had faced FTC claims, and court records show Bainbridge filed for personal bankruptcy ahead of his settlement with the agency.

Funding Deal

Lewis was fired from Pierce Bainbridge in November. The firm said he was credibly accused of sexual assault by a staffer, and he responded by disparaging his accuser and colleagues. But Lewis has claimed his dismissal was actually a result of his threatening to blow the whistle on “self-dealing and other financial misconduct” by Pierce.