In his first TV ad as a Senate candidate, Rep. Kendrick Meek answers his Democratic primary opponent’s attack ads with a hard punch of his own.

The spot portrays billionaire Jeff Greene as having lined his pockets by “betting on suffering.”

“Meet the real Jeff Greene,” it begins. “Ran for Congress as a California Republican. Moved to Florida two years ago. Became a billionaire on Wall Street betting middle-class families would lose their homes. Helped fuel the economic meltdown. Warren Buffett called Greene’s scheme ‘financial weapons of mass destruction.'”

In a CNN interview earlier this month, Greene said, “Not one Florida homeowner lost a penny because of the investments I made.”

Each time the issue has been raised, Greene has said that although he made millions betting that some mortgages would go belly-up, his investments didn’t cause lenders to make risky loans or borrowers to accept bigger debts than they had the ability to repay.

The language in the ad is toned down from earlier in the campaign, when Meek called Greene “the king of the undercover credit default swap that brought about the destruction of our economy that we have right now.”

The more extreme rhetoric had been described as hyperbole and rated “Barely True” by PolitiFact Florida.

The campaign also avoided the more sweeping language in a news release that characterized Greene as having played “a critical part in the financial downfall” and “an integral role in contributing to the economic meltdown.”