Simon Marketing Inc., embroiled in lawsuits with McDonald's Corp. over a dlrs 13 million promotional game scandal, sued its auditors, parent company Simon Worldwide Inc. announced Tuesday.

KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young were named in the civil suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

"This lawsuit is totally without merit and we intend to defend it vigorously," PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman David Nestor said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers severed its ties with Simon Marketing last week.

Simon Marketing, KPMG and Ernst & Young did not immediately return calls to comment.

The suit claims that the firms failed to "oversee, on behalf of Simon, various steps in the distribution of high-value game pieces for certain McDonald's promotional games."

Simon Marketing, which represented McDonald's for more than two decades, sued McDonald's in October, claiming it lost several clients, including the fast-food giant and Philip Morris Cos., after the fraud scandal was disclosed in August.

On the same day that Simon Marketing filed suit, McDonald's sued Simon Worldwide, Simon Marketing, and Jerome Jacobson, the man allegedly at the centre of the game scandal, as well as other defendants.

Simon Marketing handled promotions for McDonald's, including the popular Monopoly and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" games.

Acting on a citizen tip, the FBI's "Operation Final Answer" resulted in the arrests of eight people, including Jacobson, then a Simon Marketing security worker who allegedly stole game pieces worth up to dlrs 1 million each.

Jacobson allegedly embezzled winning game pieces and distributed them to friends and business associates, who found others to take the winning pieces and claim the prizes. In all, the ring "won" more than dlrs 13 million in prizes.

The FBI said no other Simon employees were involved in the ring.

With acknowledgements to AP and Sapa.