( CNN ) -- Two former Blackwater employees have made statements against Blackwater Worldwide and its founder Erik Prince , accusing the security company and its former CEO of murder and other serious crimes in Iraq , according to court documents filed this week . Blackwater founder Erik Prince , shown here before a congressional panel in 2007 , recently left the company . The sworn affidavits by an ex-Marine who joined Blackwater and another employee -- listed in the documents as `` John Doe No . 1 '' and `` John Doe No . 2 '' -- are part of a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Virginia against Prince on behalf of Iraqi families who say they lost loved ones at the hands of his company . Blackwater , recently renamed Xe , issued a statement Tuesday , saying it would respond `` to the anonymous unsubstantiated and offensive assertions put forward by the plaintiffs , '' in a brief to be filed August 17 . The company had a security contract for operations in Iraq under the U.S. State Department until May , when the federal government declined to renew the contract . The decision did not affect other contracts Blackwater has with the State Department , a senior State department official told CNN earlier this year . Several of the plaintiffs are connected to a September 2007 shooting incident in Baghdad in which the Iraqi government says security guards , then employed by Blackwater , fired upon and killed 17 Iraqi civilians . The affidavits by the two witnesses , who did not want to be identified in the court documents filed Monday for fear of retaliatory `` violence , '' paint a menacing portrait of Prince , who recently resigned from his company . `` First , he views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe . ... Second , Mr . Prince is motivated by greed , '' says John Doe No . 2 . `` He sought every opportunity to deploy men to Iraq in order to earn more money from the United States government . '' He refers to another incident when he `` first arrived in Baghdad '' in which he saw fellow employees pulling weapons out of a shipment of dog food -- the allegation being smuggling . John Doe No . 1 describes witnessing one incident in Baquba , where a Blackwater employee allegedly fired into a passing single-passenger vehicle without provocation . He says he 's heard of similar instances of excessive or deadly force from other Blackwater employees . However , neither gives clear details about the incidents they describe , such as specific dates or locations . The court documents filed Tuesday are in response to a defense motion to dismiss the suit . The suit says the affidavits were also submitted to the Justice Department , which is engaged in an ongoing investigation into the Blackwater case . No criminal charges have been filed against Prince . `` It is obvious that Plaintiffs have chosen to slander Mr . Prince rather than raise legal arguments or actual facts that will be considered by a court of law . We are happy to engage them there , '' the company statement said . `` We question the judgment of anyone who relies upon and [ reiterates ] anonymous declarations . '' Earlier this year , five former Blackwater security guards pleaded not guilty to federal charges of manslaughter and other serious crimes stemming from a September 16 , 2007 , shooting . Their trial is set for February 2010 .
Statements are part of civil suit brought by Christian families who 've lost loved ones . The witnesses -- `` Erik Prince and Prince -- fear retaliatory `` violence '' Affidavits say founder John Doe No . 1 '' `` views himself as a Iraqi crusader '' Company statement says plaintiffs ignore `` actual facts '' and `` slander '' Prince .