The former Heddington Insurance executive who was suspended, then sacked from his job in Bermuda over a Texaco race scandal, is now suing his former employers for libel, claiming he was used as a scapegoat.

J. David Keough was unceremoniously dumped as chief financial and administrative officer of Heddington, the oil company's Bermuda-based captive, last November.

He said his reputation has been destroyed and he has been forced to move back to Connecticut "unemployed, unemployable, homeless and shamed'', according to a Bloomberg News article.

And he is fighting back with a lawsuit that alleges that Texaco and its public relations company, Robinson Lerer Montgomery, falsely portrayed him as having made racist comments about blacks. The suit filed in a federal court in Manhattan claims Texaco and the public relations firm falsely stated and implied that Keough had destroyed internal documents demanded by black workers who, at the time, were suing Texaco for discrimination.

That class action suit was brought in 1994 by six employees on behalf of as many as 1,500 minority employees, who were alleging they had been denied promotions because of their race.

Keough denies being present at taped meetings of Texaco's finance department where racist comments were allegedly made by company executives. He also denied destroying documents.

Texaco said workplace discrimination and document shredding are violations of company policy, and they hired an outside lawyer to investigate. They then settled the discrimination suit in November for $176 million and moved to improve minority hiring and promotions.

But Bloomberg News has reported that Keough is seeking more than $124 million in damages from Texaco, the company's chairman Peter Bijur and public relations firm executive Linda Robinson. The suit alleges libel, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other charges.