The shopping centre tycoon Frank Lowy was among his clients and he had a seat on the board of his beloved Sydney Swans. The champagne was flowing after Pridham and others helped the retail trust Centro Properties secure a US shopping centre company for $US3.7 billion, earning tens of millions of dollars in fees for his firm.

The global financial crisis was yet to bite and Pridham was enjoying life and harbour views at his $6 million home at Clifton Gardens, with its tennis court and indoor pool.

In November 2007, the banker turned to the well-known auctioneer and Melbourne art adviser Anita Archer to help him buy some serious art. In return for a commission, Archer was to identify works that would make a good investment. Archer soon told Pridham she could get him a large painting referred to as Lavender Bay, 1988, signed and dated ''Brett Whiteley 1988''.

It was a sweeping vista of the harbour, apparently from the artist's home at North Sydney.

Only months before, a Whiteley painting of the Olgas sold at auction for $3.48 million, a record for the artist, so the Lavender Bay painting looked good at $2.5 million. Pridham took delivery of the painting in December, netting Archer $300,000. But he became suspicious of its provenance and hired experts to investigate its authenticity.

That same month Centro hovered on the brink of collapse, with its executives revealing that Centro could not refinance debts of nearly $4 billion.

The disputed artwork is part of a much wider story that includes three alleged fake Whiteley paintings circulating in the market. Some of the biggest names in the Australian art world, including two auction houses, several art dealers and a number of wealthy businessmen, have become embroiled in disputes about the paintings.

Now Pridham is suing Archer for selling him an "artwork that was not by the artist Brett Whiteley", and for allegedly failing to exercise all the "reasonable care, diligence and skill" required to verify and advise him on the painting's provenance, according to his statement of claim to the NSW Supreme Court. Pridham wants his $2.5 million back, plus money to cover the loss of the capital appreciation of the work, and what he spent insuring the painting and getting experts to check its authenticity.

Pridham, who was head-hunted from JP Morgan in 2010 to join the Sydney office of the New York investment bank Moelis & Company, declined to speak to the Herald about the case. Archer, one of the few female auctioneers in the market, didn't return the Herald's calls.

Archer, who for some time has run a fine art advisory business, was also head auctioneer at Deutscher & Hackett from 2007 until last December when the auction house terminated her contract because, it told the Herald, she would not accept a pay cut.

In a statement to the court, Archer denies having an advisory contract with Pridham "or alternatively, [denies] that the terms of the advisory contract are those terms alleged by the plaintiff". But she says she did tell him "a painting referred to as Lavender Bay, 1988 signed and dated 'Brett Whiteley 1988' was available".

As Pridham tells the story, Archer told him the painting's provenance was "impeccable", that she had been trying for some time to buy it from the Village Roadshow director Robert Le Tet who had bought it direct from Whiteley in 1988 and had it hanging in his North Sydney office. Archer denies all this.

Pridham alleges Archer told him she had spoken to the original framer, Brett Liechtenstein, known for many years of collaboration with Whiteley, "who asserted that he could clearly remember framing the picture in 1988". But Pridham goes on to say Liechtenstein refused to verify its provenance because he had not been shown the painting.

The story gets even murkier. Pridham also alleges that Archer bought the painting from the controversial Melbourne art dealer and horse-racing enthusiast Peter Gant for $2.2 million. Gant declared himself bankrupt last June, with debts of at least $3.57 million. His creditors include the artists Charles Blackman and Robert Dickerson, who took Gant to court in 2008 over three fake drawings attributed to them and traded by the art dealer. The court ordered the drawings destroyed.

Gant has also been connected to the two other suspect Whiteleys: Lavender Bay Through the Window, which he gave to a well-known Melbourne restaurateur as security for money owed, and Orange Lavender Bay, sold to the Sydney car dealer Steven Nasteski for $1.1 million by the Melbourne art dealer John Playfoot, who got it from Gant. Nasteski never took the matter to court but managed to get his money back.

All three paintings were listed on a 1988 consignment note purportedly connected to Whiteley's studio manager Chris Quintas. The note fell under suspicion when it was examined in relation to one of the paintings.

It has previously been reported that the University of Melbourne art expert Robyn Sloggett is believed to have assessed Pridham's painting, which is sometimes referred to as "Big Blue Lavender Bay". Sloggett did not return the Herald's calls. Sloggett did test Orange, Lavender Bay. Her preliminary report found that painting could not be ascribed to Whiteley and that the paint behaved like recent paint.

Pridham's case will go before a registrar on March 21.