Mark LeWinter, who supervised Jeffrey Downs, the gay attorney suing Anapol Schwartz for defamation, testified Wednesday his trust had been “betrayed” when Downs told another firm leader to keep LeWinter in the dark about Downs' threat of a lawsuit.

At the trial in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Powell's courtroom, Downs' ex-supervisor responded to questions from Downs' attorney about the sequence of events surrounding Downs and LeWinter's falling-out.

LeWinter claimed he was “stabbed in the back” by Downs—who was set to follow LeWinter to Raynes McCarty after LeWinter had recommended him to that firm's management—when Downs told Anapol Schwartz shareholder Sol Weiss not to inform LeWinter of Downs' threat to sue Anapol Schwartz for discrimination unless a severance payout was made.