Top 9/11 lawyer accuses Napoli Bern of using prostitutes during legal dispute

• Paul Napoli is a partner at Napoli Bern and is married to Marie Napoli
• Court papers claim he had an affair with colleague Vanessa Dennis, 32
• Accused Marc Bern of using prostitutes and having a liaison during a party
• Also claimed he used corporate credit card for plane trips to Aspen
• Bern's lawyer says allegations are an attempt to 'divert attention'
• Napoli's wife allegedly found out about the affair in 2013
• She allegedly took Dennis' cat and sent bosses wives emails about her
• Dennis subsequently filed a defamation suit against the Napolis
• The Napolis have three young children - including a baby
• Firm has also been accused of overcharging their legal partner by $36m

By Wills Robinson and Mail Online Reporter

Published: 14:03 EST, 23 November 2014 | Updated: 03:13 EST, 24 November 2014

The co-founder of a New York law firm that represented thousands of first responders and workers affected by 9/11 has accused his partner of using prostitutes and having a liason with a receptionist.

Paul Napoli, 46, whose affair with colleague Vanessa Denis was recently exposed as part of an on-going legal dispute, made the claims against Marc Bern.

Their firm Napoli Bern has raked in billions of dollars representing diet-pill users and workers who helped clear up the Ground Zero site.

Allegations: Paul Napoli, 46, whose affair with colleague Vanessa Denis was recently exposed, made the claims against his law firm partner Marc Bern (right)

In continuous attacks, Napoli said Bern's behavior were 'unbecoming of a lawyer' and also accused him of charging fancy dinners and plane trips to Aspen on the corporate credit.

He said Bern had oral sex with the employee during a Christmas party, according to the New York Post.

After the allegations came out and Napoli was diagnosed with leukemia in May, Bern took over the finances of the firm and said he found some 'horrific irregularities', his lawyer said in court.

Napoli, who was diagnosed with leukemia in May, also allegedly sent an email around the office suggesting Bern had neglected his son - who died of a drug overdose in 2010.

In October the situation worsened when Napoli sued his partner for breach of contract.

He then, according to court papers, tried to 'hurt anyone he perceives as being allied with Marc Bern against him.'

Bern’s lawyer, Clifford Robert, told the Post: 'Paul and Marie Napoli’s transparent attempts to divert attention away from the very serious claims against them are unfortunate.'

In April 2013, Mrs Napoli, 47, hired a private investigator to spy on her husband and Dennis during a Chicago business trip.

Vanessa Dennis, (right) one of the young lawyers at the firm, court papers allege, and when his wife, Marie, (left) discovered it, she stalked and harassed the woman

The suit claims she then emailed the young associate, saying, 'I have evidence that is going to be forwarded to your husband if you do not stay away from my husband.'

Mr Napoli demanded Dennis erase correspondence between the pair and admitted he had authorized access for his wife to see both his and Dennis' e-mail accounts, state legal papers.

Court papers say Mrs Napoli messaged Dennis' brother to tell him of the affair and then found Dennis' husband, Richard Buonauito, in Dennis' personnel file as an emergency contact and contacted him.

The 33-year-old was fired from Napoli Bern on May 2, 2013, with a $150,000 severance.

But Mrs Napoli allegedly did not stop the harassment and e-mailed Dennis writing: 'Happy Mothers Day! Oh yea I should say happy motherless day. Tick tock.'

Dennis had previously told Mr Napoli that she might not be able to have conceive.

The Napolis have three young children - including a baby.

In June 2013 an email included in court papers shows an angry Dennis wrote to Mr Napoli: 'What's more believable Paul — that a 32-year-old junior attorney who weighs 100 pounds soaking wet seduced and physically attacked her 40 something year old boss (who happens to be a managing partner and a millionaire) and twice her size or the other way around.

Mr Napoli is a partner at Napoli Bern which raked in billions of dollars representing diet-pill users and workers at Ground Zero

She emailed him again to remind him of intimate details he had shared about his view of his wife's body since she became a mother.

Dennis, who has since split with her husband, moved to Texas, but she claims Mrs Napoli sent cards to the wives of Dennis' new bosses, warning them about her and even describing Dennis' private body piercing.

She also sent messages to everyone on LinkedIn associated with Dennis' new firm.

Dennis claims that in one day she came out the bathroom of her Houston apartment to find her back door open and her cat, Padme, missing - she says she received a series of texts written as if from Padme, with one saying, 'How do u think I got out . . .'

Three months later Dennis filed a defamation suit in state Supreme Court against the Napolis, Marc Bern and Napoli Bern with preliminary paperwork indicates she is seeking at least $9 million.

She declined to comment when contacted by the Post and Mr Napoli said he saw nothing wrong 'with confronting a person that there was an affair with.'

'Everything my wife said in any e-mail whether it sounds terrible or not was all true and was all factually correct.'

He denied reports he had previous affairs at the firm and denied that his wife had killed Dennis' cat.

The couple, who have met at St. John’s University School of Law, briefly split up, but are now back together - they live on Long Island

A Facebook photo shows Mrs Napoli kissing her husband in Mexico's Cancun this year

The couple, who have met at St. John’s University School of Law, briefly split up, but are now back together - they live on Long Island.

A Facebook photo shows Mrs Napoli kissing her husband in Mexico's Cancun this year - the couple are outlined in a heart.

Last week Mrs Napoli filed her own legal action, claiming Dennis enticed her husband into having sex on the Chicago business trip in violation of the 'Illinois Alienation of Affections Act.'

On his firm's website Mr Napoli's bio reads: ' Paul J. Napoli, a Senior Partner in the firm, has achieved more than 100 verdicts and settlements over one million dollars.

'He is nationally known as a tenacious and unrelenting advocate for his clients’ rights in courts around the country, where he consistently achieves results in the multiple millions of dollars for injured plaintiffs.

Mr Napoli has been named in New York Super Lawyers® each year since 2007, and in 2010, was named as one of the top 100 lawyers in the New York Metropolitan area.'

MailOnline has contacted the Napolis for comment.