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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Guess co-founder Paul Marciano today sued attorney Lisa Bloom and her law firm, The Bloom Firm, alleging extortion through the threatened filing of a lawsuit.
The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint alleges that Bloom threatened a lawsuit against Marciano which contained ``knowingly and blatantly false allegations in bad faith for the improper purpose to extort money.''
The suit alleges that Bloom never had any intention or authority to file the lawsuit threatened and that a former Bloom client came forward with key evidence provided in a sworn statement.
Bloom issued a statement Monday regarding the suit.
``Over 20 women have accused Paul Marciano of sexual harassment and sexual assault -- most of whom I did not represent -- according to Guess' own records,'' Bloom said.
``Guess has stood by him for decades despite the pleas of so many women for justice and a recent shareholder revolt. His strongarm tactics do not work on me.''
Bloom said her firm has many confidential emails from the former client ``describing her appalling story of what Paul Marciano did to her'' and that the ex-client hired the Bloom firm to obtain justice against the fashion designer, whose age is listed on the internet as both 69 and 70.
``I will not be distracted,'' Bloom said. ``This laughable, baseless case will be thrown out early.''
The alleged plot unraveled when a former client of Bloom revealed that she had specifically disavowed a claim of rape that Bloom had asserted against Marciano and told Bloom to remove that allegation from a draft lawsuit, but her demand was disregarded, according to the suit.
The ex-Bloom client stated in a sworn declaration that the Bloom firm ``continually manipulated, harassed and bullied her into trying to make her say what the Bloom firm wanted her to say to sensationalize a threatened lawsuit,'' the suit alleges.
``The Bloom defendants would say or do anything, and stoop to any level, in order to extract a settlement,'' the suit states.
This lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.