The Red Queen is striking back.

Seven months after former Art + Auction publisher Kate Shanley and former Associate Publisher Wendy Buckley filed a joint lawsuit claiming they were owed back pay and expenses totaling more than $250,000, Louise Blouin, the CEO of Louise Blouin Media, has filed a counterclaim in Manhattan state court.

In it she claims the duo disparaged her company, sold ads at prices below the published rate card and bartered ad space for airline tickets.

“LBM’s counterclaims arise out of Shanley and Buckley’s disloyalty and self-dealing in violation of their duties at LBM,” legal papers claim.

In addition, Shanley diverted payments from ad clients to her own company, ArtMedia Co. , it is alleged.

Wendy Stryker, the lawyer for Shanley and Buckley at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Seltz, commented,
“The substance of these claims amounts to nothing.

“They are designed to distract from the real issue — her failure to pay workers what they are owed,” Stryker said.

The lawyer said the bartered airline tickets were used to fly Shanley to art fairs in Europe working for Blouin, not for personal vacations.

Blouin’s lawyer did not return a call seeking additional comment.