Defense counsel for former Dewey & LeBoeuf financial chief Joel Sanders struck back hard Thursday at the prosecution’s most damaging witness to date, the third-ranking finance department manager at the firm, who pleaded guilty to a lesser criminal charge in 2014.

Sanders, the ex-CFO at Dewey & LeBoeuf; the now-defunct firm’s former executive director Stephen DiCarmine; and chairman Steven Davis are being tried on multiple criminal fraud, conspiracy and falsification of records charges in New York State Supreme Court in lower Manhattan.