CINCINNATI (CN) – from www.courthousenews.com – Jimmy Flynt, brother of the porn king, claims Larry Flynt and his team of lawyers duped him into signing over his share of the Hustler empire and left him for broke. Jimmy claims the family feud began, or intensified, when his sons began using the Flynt name for their own business, which infuriated Larry.

Jimmy and Larry Flynt spent 40 years building up the Hustler empire from a few small “go-go clubs” into a “national multi-media empire” that includes several magazines, Web sites, videos, gentlemen’s clubs, retail stores, a casino and a clothing line, according to the complaint in Hamilton County Court.

Jimmy Flynt alleges that though “Larry has been the more public, out-front partner, and although Larry has generally served the role of the managing partner, Jimmy has always been there, at Larry’s side from the beginning, often behind the scenes and out of the public eye.”

He claims if it were not for him, Hustler would “most likely have ceased to exist in the late 1970’s or early to mid 1980’s, during a period when Larry was physically and/or mentally incapacitated.”

Larry Flynt was in and out of prison and mental hospitals due to drug addiction and odd behavior after a March of 1978 assassination attempt in which he was shot several times and rendered paraplegic.

From the early 1980s to the mid 1990s Hustler’s business was “flat and generally struggling,” but after the release of the 1996 film “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” Jimmy says he was able to re-energize the stagnant Hustler brand.

Jimmy claims he came up with the idea to open several retail stores and coined the phrase, “Relax … it’s just sex.” He also claims he came up with the plans for an online store and several strip clubs and helped Hustler dominate the porn video industry.

Under guidance from Larry and Jimmy’s longtime lawyer, Jimmy Flynt says he “transferred cash, property and other assets and rights to Larry,” along with the property at 411 Elm St., the first Hustler store in Cincinnati.

Jimmy Flynt’s complaint adds: “Had Jimmy known that he was giving up significant assets to Larry only to have Larry and Paul Cambria, their attorney, later turn on him, breach duties to him and contrive to cause economic harm to him, he would not have done so.”

Jimmy says that in 2007 his two sons formed their own company, Flynt Media Corp., after Larry Flynt fired them. Jimmy Flynt says he was not involved in that company. In January this year, Larry sued his brother’s son for trademark infringement, seeking to stop them from using the Flynt name for their company.

Jimmy claims Larry told him to “get control of his boys,” and said that if his brother could not make them agree to the settlement demands, Larry would “cut him off financially.”

When Jimmy was unable to get his sons to comply, he says, Larry stopped his pay, and demanded that Jimmy pay the legal bills for the action against his sons.

Jimmy says his termination letter stated that he was fired due to “recent events that have clearly placed you in conflict with the interest of Mr. Larry C. Flynt.” He says that he was ordered to turn in his company car or it would be reported stolen.

All of this, he says, was a “conspiracy to cut Jimmy out of company and partnership.”

Jimmy Flynt seeks dissolution of the Hustler partnership and punitive damages for breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and wrongful termination. He is represented by Robert Hojnoski with the Reminger law office.