Jay Alix, a prominent restructuring specialist, sued McKinsey & Company on Wednesday, accusing the management-consulting firm of misleading the bankruptcy courts about conflicts of interest.

Mr. Alix, the founder of the consulting firm AlixPartners, filed suit under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, saying McKinsey “knowingly and intentionally submitted false and materially misleading declarations under oath” in cases where it had been hired as a bankruptcy consultant.

The declarations allowed McKinsey “to unlawfully conceal its many significant connections to ‘interested parties’” in the bankruptcies, according to the complaint. Had the connections been known, it said, McKinsey would have been precluded from working on those cases.

The complaint also accused McKinsey of offering “pay to play” deals to various bankruptcy lawyers, in which McKinsey would offer “to refer its vast network of consulting clients” to them if in exchange they would refer their bankruptcy clients to McKinsey’s restructuring business.