Defendants in Capital Management suit: Court should dismiss Peveto affidavits

Defendants in the Capital Management Consultants theft lawsuit are asking the court to throw out affidavits signed by Donnasue Peveto, who died in March, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court’s Office records.
Attorney Michael Aloise Jr., who is a defendant in the lawsuit, filed a motion April 4 in 16th Judicial District Court to declare four affidavits Peveto signed inadmissible at any trial.
Peveto had appeared likely to be a key witness in the lawsuit and the criminal prosecutions resulting from what authorities say was a multiyear, multimillion-dollar looting of Capital Management.
On Dec. 9, Peveto pleaded guilty to racketeering and 123 counts of theft over $1,500 and agreed to testify against her co-defendants. District Attorney Bo Duhe had filed a bill of information June 29, collectively charging Karen Duhon and Armond Duhon, who are married; Peveto; A-B-C Siding Co. of Morgan City; and NelsonTucker LLC with one count of racketeering, 354 counts of theft of $1,500 or more, and 100 counts of money laundering.
Peveto, 59, the company’s former assistant bookkeeper, died March 27 in Houma, said her attorney Thomas Alonzo, who represented Peveto in the criminal case against her. Peveto had multiple medical problems and had been in poor health, Alonzo said. The Terrebonne Parish Coroner’s Office determined that Peveto died of natural causes.
In February, Aloise asked the court to compel Peveto to be deposed in the civil case to answer questions about the affidavits and any contact she may have with Capital Management representatives regarding preparation and execution of the affidavits, court records said.
Capital Management Consultants, a Morgan City-based investment holdings company, filed a lawsuit Dec. 30, 2014, alleging that the company’s former controller, CPA James Scott Tucker, was the leader behind a conspiracy to steal as much as $30 million, along with former bookkeeper Karen Duhon, from the company dating back possibly to the early 1980s.
Peveto found out about the theft, and Tucker and Duhon paid her to stay quiet, a company spokesman said. Tucker died in January 2014.
Capital Management filed a separate lawsuit against Aloise accusing him of assisting in the theft of property and property rights from the company. The two lawsuits have since been consolidated. Aloise has not been charged with any crime in connection with the case.
The court did not grant Aloise’s deposition request before Peveto died. Tucker’s succession joined Aloise’s motion to compel Peveto’s deposition and, after Peveto’s death, also requested that the court declare the affidavits inadmissible, court records stated.
Peveto signed four affidavits in December 2015 that implicated Aloise, Tucker, Karen Duhon and her husband Armond Duhon in the alleged multi-million theft scheme.
Peveto said in her affidavits that Tucker was the mastermind and directed Karen Duhon and Peveto on how to commit the thefts.
Peveto, Tucker and Karen Duhon “formed a conspiracy to defraud, commit conversion, theft, misappropriation, and embezzlement” of Capital Management’s “money, movable and immovable property including valuable works of art,” she stated.
“We would enter on the financial records that these thefts were ‘loans’ to us although each of us knew that they were not loans and none of us ever had any intention of repaying the money,” Peveto said.
Peveto said that Aloise was Capital Management’s attorney and represented the company on real estate transactions.
Aloise was a personal friend of Tucker, with whom he also had a professional relationship, Peveto stated.
Peveto said in the affidavits that Aloise told her he knew that Capital Management founder “Peter V. Guarisco was the majority shareholder of Capital Management Consultants” and knew, as of 1998, Victor Guarisco was president of Capital Management.
Peveto alleged that Aloise knew that Tucker wasn’t “the sole shareholder of Capital Management Consultants.”
Peveto overheard or was present when Tucker told Aloise that “he resented Peter V. Guarisco and his children” and “was not adequately compensated for his services,” she stated.
In January 2004, Peter Guarisco sold a lot in Willowcrest Subdivision to Thane Aucoin and his wife. The lot was next to Tucker’s house, and Tucker didn’t want the Aucoins as his neighbors, Peveto said.
Tucker told Aloise that Merlin Oil and Gas wanted to lease property in Willowcrest Subdivision for exploration so Tucker was going to transfer Capital Management’s mineral rights to Nelson-Tucker for no consideration, Peveto stated. Tucker then said that Capital Management would repurchase the lot the Aucoins had bought, Peveto stated.
Tucker asked Aloise for his assistance in preparing legal documents “for the fraudulent transfers of lots and mineral rights,” Peveto stated.
Peveto alleged that Aloise also told Tucker that because Victor Guarisco was company president, they needed to “make up” a resolution stating that Tucker was president and Karen Duhon was secretary and treasurer.
In February 2015, Aloise provided a response to The Daily Review in regards to the lawsuit against him calling the allegations “false and outrageous.” Aloise never represented Capital Management Consultants on a regular basis, he said. On Sept. 10, 2015, Aloise sued Capital Management for defamation.
Aloise’s engagement was and continued to be limited to specific matters, in which he was consulted by Capital Management Consultants, he said.
The specific matters he was engaged by the company for were the preparation of two cash deeds on its behalf in 2004, for which he billed $200 for each one, and reimbursement for recordation fees and examination of ownership in Hedgerow Subdivision, for which he billed $1,000 in 2011, Aloise said.
On April 4, Capital Management’s attorneys Barbara Lane Irwin and E. Margriet Langenberg filed a motion stating the court should not rule Peveto’s affidavits inadmissible. Questions regarding the drafting and revisions to the affidavits “can be further explored” at Capital Management Spokesman Marwan Mohey-El-Dien’s deposition May 3, the Capital Management attorneys stated.
In an April 4 affidavit, Mohey-El-Dien said that Alonzo, Peveto’s attorney, approached him to discuss the possibility of a plea agreement and agreed to conduct a video interview questioning her about the case. Alonzo told Mohey-El-Dien that Peveto knew how the money and property was stolen from Capital Managements, Mohey-El-Dien’s affidavit stated.
Peveto’s affidavits were prepared based on Mohey-El-Dien’s conversations with Alonzo “regarding the facts,” Mohey-El-Dien stated.
Peveto told Mohey-El-Dien that she had “personal knowledge of all of the facts” in the affidavits and that the facts in the affidavits were “true and correct,” Mohey-El-Dien said.
On the day Peveto pleaded guilty to the criminal charges against her, Mohey-El-Dien met with Alonzo and gave him a draft of the affidavits for his and Peveto’s review, Mohey-El-Dien said. Alonzo and Peveto reviewed the affidavits and “made some minor corrections,” Mohey-El-Dien said.
Peveto said she knew she was dying and wanted to provide the affidavits so she could “meet her maker with a clean conscience,” Mohey-El-Dien said.
Mohey-El-Dien observed Peveto to be “mentally alert” and “lucid” during the execution of her affidavits, he said.
On Dec. 14, 2015, Peveto made further corrections to the affidavits that she had overlooked, Mohey-El-Dien said.