NEW YORK (Reuters) - TPG Capital was sued on Thursday by its former head of public affairs, who accused the private equity giant of ignoring his warnings that the firm may have violated securities regulations and defrauded investors out of millions of dollars as a result.The whistleblower lawsuit, almost without precedent in the tight-knit world of private equity, was filed byAdam Levine, who had been an assistantWhite Housepress secretary under PresidentGeorge Bushin 2002-2003 and then worked atTPGfrom 2008 until the end of 2014.Levine says he was asked to leave the firm by senior executives after he raised concerns aboutTPG's conduct, according to his lawsuit. TPG, which has $65 billion under management and has, according to the lawsuit, been considering an initial public offering, said Levine's assertions were "patently false and defamatory.""Mr Levine's lawsuit today is nothing more than a meritless pleading designed to distract attention from Mr Levine's own egregious and illegal misconduct," saidMarc Kasowitz, an attorney forTPG. He said Levine has stolen confidential and proprietary information fromTPGand tried to extort millions of dollars from the firm by threatening a media smear campaignTPG, co-founded in 1992 by Chairman David Bonderman, sued Levine in January, accusing him of downloading confidential documents including an internal email aboutTPG's billing process and leaking them to the media, as well as demanding a seven-to-eight figure separation payment.Levine said in his lawsuit that allegations he breached confidentiality agreements were false. He claims he is owed compensation byTPG.Levine's suit alleges thatTPG, whose past deals have included the takeovers of Burger King, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the biggest-ever leveraged buyout, the $32 billion takeover ofTexasutilityTXU, miss-billed expenses, was flouting compliance rules, and gave inaccurate information about its investment team.According to the filing in theSan Francisco/Oakland division of theU.S. District CourtinNorthern California, Levine said he raised concerns thatTPGwas engaged in practices that he believed "violated securities laws, rules and regulations," but was brushed off by its executives.The suit alleges that in response to some of Levine's concerns,TPGpartner and senior counsel,Clive Bode, said ifSan Francisco-based Levine were in the same room as him, he would "smack" Levine's head into a wall and "knock some fucking sense" into him.Bode also told Levine he would have "hunted" him down and "gutted [him] like a carp" if Levine had sent one particular email to Bode, according to the lawsuit. That email detailing some of Levine's concerns had gone to other executives. Bode allegedly also told Levine that he would "fucking kill you" if Levine brought "Bonderman into it". Bode could not be immediately reached for comment.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted
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