CARSON CITY -- The state Democratic Party filed an emergency motion Friday to open sealed records that reportedly detail that Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons received as much as $400,000 in gifts and casino chips from a software company owner.

The party wants the federal court in Reno to open records that were sealed in a lawsuit brought by software developer Dennis Montgomery against his former employer, eTreppid Technologies.

The lawsuit is open to public access, but a lawyer for Montgomery said Thursday that some documents have been sealed.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Montgomery filed an affidavit that alleges Gibbons received undisclosed gifts, cash and chips from Warren Trepp of Reno, the owner of the company.

Trepp also donated more than $100,000 to Gibbons' campaign through various companies he owns, the newspaper reported.

"Voters deserve to know the truth about Jim Gibbons," said Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins. "Did he help facilitate contracts in exchange for campaign funds? These are very serious charges, and voters deserve an immediate answer."

Gibbons on Wednesday admitted a friendship with Trepp and acknowledged he and other members of the Nevada delegation helped secure contracts for eTreppid. But he said he had done nothing wrong in trying to help a Nevada company secure contracts.

Robert Uithoven, Gibbons' top campaign aide, said Friday it is "preposterous to think Jim took any gift of any kind."

"This is nothing more than a last-minute smear attempt by the Titus campaign," he added. "The voters will see through it."

Gibbons holds a 4 percentage point lead over his challenger, Democrat Dina Titus, according to the latest poll commissioned by the Review-Journal.

Montgomery claims in the lawsuits that he developed the technology that Trepp sold to the Defense Department and other federal agencies for more than $30 million. Some of the contracts apparently deal with national security contracts and were not subject to public bidding.

With the technology, people apparently can pick out terrorists or others in photographs.

In the lawsuit, Montgomery said he developed the software and joined Trepp's company in 1997 as an executive. He said he was fired by Trepp in 2004.

Montgomery's home was raided by the FBI on March 1, shortly after he filed the first of three lawsuits against his former employer. Trepp filed a countersuit.

In the motion filed Friday, Democratic Party lawyer Richard Segerblom said computer disks and other material seized in the raid might contain information that implicates Gibbons.

Lawyers for Montgomery said Thursday that they could not release records dealing with national security that were sealed by the court, but were trying to open up records that dealt with Gibbons.

Uithoven said Gibbons had nothing to do with the sealing of records in a case "between a business owner and a former disgruntled employee."