Manny Pacquiao -- I'm the Victim of a 'Shakedown'

Manny Pacquiao says his former business partners are simply envious of his recent $15 million boxing payday -- and that's why they concocted a scheme to sue him over a busted record deal ... this according to new legal docs.



Pacquiao is firing back at RBM Group International -- claiming their $10 million lawsuit against him for allegedly backing out of a 12 song record deal is nothing more than a "shakedown."

In the documents, obtained by TMZ, Manny claims RBM was supposed to pay him $160k up front -- but he only got a check for $40,000 ... and therefore he has no legal obligation to make an album.

But the best part of the lawsuit -- Manny's lawyer quotes the Archbishop of Constantinople ... who said, "As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man."