New York ? The CEO of a communications company who disputed credit card charges at a Manhattan topless club is being sued by American Express for payment of $241,000.

In papers filed in state court, American Express says that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men.

The lawsuit says that after McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent. The communications company said its chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit.

“We firmly believe that Mr. McCormick was the victim of fraud,” said Deena Williamson, Savvis’s deputy general counsel. She declined to comment further.

Lonnie Hanover, a Scores spokesman, said he had not talked to all the employees involved with McCormick and could not say what the CEO purchased.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday against McCormick and Savvis is at least the third in the past two years involving contested credit card charges at Scores. One patron sued the club after he got a $28,000 bill and another disputed $129,000 in charges.