Shia LaBeouf steps up legal battle against uncle

Actor Shia Labeouf has questioning his uncle's financial situation in a fresh dispute over a loan.

The Transformers star and his mother sued Barry Saide in 2013, accusing him of failing to pay back a $800,000 loan in the instalments they had agreed upon.

After a legal battle, the judge sided with LaBeouf in 2014 and ordered his uncle to pay back the sum in full plus interest and attorney fees.

The actor has still not been able to collect the funds, and he is disputing Saide's claims that he has no money to pay off the loan in fresh legal papers filed at a court in Manhattan.

LaBeouf's lawyers claims his uncle manages to make monthly mortgage payments of $6,600 for a multi-million dollar Manhattan apartment despite the bank accounts he disclosed being "essentially empty".

In legal papers obtained by the New York Post, the lawyers write, “All this leaves the obvious question: How is (the) debtor paying for his upscale apartment lifestyle?”

Saide previously claimed he had loaned LaBeouf money before he was famous and assumed the actor's loan made them even.

The 29 year old is reportedly seeking his aunt Sharon's $2.5 million apartment as payment, but she insists he has no legal claim over her home.