Sandra Bernhard's Ex-manager Claims He Was Forced to Do 'Unscrupulous' Things During Decade Long Relationship

Queer icon Sandra Bernhard is being accused by her ex-manager of cheating charities and other LGBTQ organizations with 'phony invoices" to bump up her fees. According to the Daily Mail, James Sliman, her publicist for the past 11 years, is asking for $250,000 in damages, alleging she forced him into doing "many unscrupulous, questionable and embarrassing things' as part of a 'hostile' work environment'."

Amongst Sliman's claims are that Bernhard cheated venues out of their cut of merchandising sales at her live performances and sent "phony invoices" to bump up her interview fees, according to a New York court filing obtained by DailyMail.com.

Sliman says the 68-year old Bernhard, who recently made a memorable turn on Ryan Murphy's "POSE," fired him in July after she "could not admit that her live shows were now selling poorly and her asking fees were too high." Sliman tells the DailyMail.com Bernhard used him as shoulder to cry on during their long business relationship.

In his court filing he claims, "In dozens of instances, maybe hundreds, Miss Bernhard coerced me into sending phony invoices from her to charity organizations, LGBT charity organizations, television shows, documentary filmmakers etc., who wanted to interview her.

"Whether or not she was already being paid a fee, she would insist I get them to also cover costs of her hair and make-up people. When they agreed, she would tell me to say it cost $1,000 when it was really only $2-300.

"I would send the invoices and she would pocket the money. This at times actually became a small way she could supplement her income. This from a woman who everyone knows is a multi-millionaire."

He continues: "She has various ways of trying not to pay venues 20 percent of her merchandise sales, which is standard.

"She would simply refuse to pay it, or tell them they could only have 10 percent or just lie about how much she sold. Since it was cash only, this was very easy for her. And she would tell me she never reported that money to her accountants.

"This behavior at times caused major issues with specific venues. Then I would have to step in and smooth it over."

"She has repeatedly coerced me into her money making schemes, so she can literally pocket as little as a couple hundred dollars or thousands," Sliman claims at the top of his legal complaint filed to Kings County Superior Court in Brooklyn on July 21."

According to Sliman, after he was hired in 2013 Bernhard "started asking more and more" of him. This included roles as "tour manager, personal assistant, travel agent, personal collection agency on her payments due, and about one year later, as actual manager of the live performance side of her career.

"She took extreme advantage of our business relationship and used me to do the work of up to four people," he adds to the DM.

"When we started in early 2013, Miss Bernhard also promised to raise my monthly publicity fee to the going rate when she got work on television shows. These raises never happened, even when she got roles on 'Two Broke Girls' (CBS), two seasons of 'POSE' (FX) and 'American Horror Story' (FX).

"Cracks in their professional relationship widened in the months leading to his firing during phone calls and emails in which they discussed 'the poor way she had been treating me... thus having a very negative effect."

Sliman continues: "We had also been having conversations about her rapidly declining ticket sales at live performances in various cities around the country and why this was affecting my ability to set up more live shows for her at the high fees she was demanding."

In conversation, Bernhard blamed the poor ticket sales on the venues and accused Sliman of siding with them.

He recounts an alleged incident in Provincetown when, Sliman claims, Bernhard "accused the young girl selling for her of skimming $50 off the total, which did not happen. Sliman gave the girl, who became emotionally upset, the $50 out of his own pocket to smooth over the incident.

"Instances like this became a normal occurrence working with Miss Bernhard over many years, causing me a great deal of distress."

"Sliman also claims he 'fought many, many battles' for Bernhard 'including dozens of times with producers and other staff people at SiriusXM Radio where she was unhappy with her treatment hosting her own radio show with them," writes the DM.