Los Angeles, April 12 (Reuters): A lawsuit filed yesterday against a Hollywood photo agency says two of its paparazzi supplied actor Heath Ledger with cocaine so they could secretly videotape him snorting the drug in a hotel room two years ago.

The suit says footage of the Ledger encounter, a portion of which aired briefly on two US television shows days after his death in January — prompting an outcry in Hollywood — was sold to media outlets around the world, some in Britain and his native Australia. The lawsuit claims the video has generated more than $1 million in revenues that should be forfeited under a California state law that requires paparazzi to disgorge any profits obtained through illegal activity.

Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in his New York apartment on January 22. The suit accuses the Los Angeles-area Splash News & Picture Agency of paying for cocaine that was allegedly used in 2006 by two of its photographers to entice Ledger, widely reported to have struggled with substance abuse, into being surreptitiously filmed using drugs.

The incident occurred on January 29, 2006.