THOUSAND OAKS : Lawsuit Is Filed in Murder-for-Hire Case

A Westlake businessman under investigation in connection with an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting his ex-wife has filed a lawsuit against her for publicly blaming him in the scheme.

Lee R. Mannheimer filed the lawsuit against his former wife, Linda, in Ventura County Superior Court on Friday.

Linda Mannheimer said she believed the suit was filed to discourage her from making statements during a deposition in a separate lawsuit Lee Mannheimer filed against the couple’s former bank. Linda Mannheimer is scheduled to be interviewed for the deposition today.

“I’m not concerned about it,” Linda Mannheimer said of the latest lawsuit. “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

The suit accuses Linda Mannheimer of making “false, malicious and unprivileged” statements about her ex-husband to reporters from three newspapers, including The Times.

Lee Mannheimer has denied any involvement in the plot and no charges have been filed against him.

In articles published by the newspapers, Linda Mannheimer was quoted as saying she believed her husband wanted to kill her and initiated the plot against her life.

Lee Mannheimer said the published accounts caused him emotional damage and the loss of his job as president and chief executive officer of PerfectData Corp., a company based in Simi Valley.

Authorities uncovered the plot to kill Linda Mannheimer last October after an FBI informant reported that he had been offered $10,000 to kill the woman.

One suspect has been charged with solicitation to commit murder, and the Ventura County district attorney’s office is investigating Mannheimer and another man in the case, officials have said.