Deposition sought in Capital Management lawsuit

Attorneys for the defendants in the Capital Management Consultants multi-million-dollar theft conspiracy lawsuit are calling into question the accuracy of four affidavits Donnasue Peveto signed alleging several parties participated in the illegal activity.
Peveto, the company’s former assistant bookkeeper, signed four affidavits Dec. 9, 2015, and Dec. 14, 2015, regarding Capital Management Consultants’ lawsuit stating that she and others participated in a scheme to steal money and assets from Capital Management, a Morgan City-based investment holdings company.
On the same day she signed the first affidavit, Peveto, 59, of Houma, entered a plea deal and pleaded guilty to 123 counts of theft over $1,500 as well as to racketeering for her involvement in the alleged criminal conspiracy. Peveto, who faces up to 25 years in jail, is scheduled to be sentenced April 12.
The affidavits include statements alleging that Capital Management’s former CPA Scott Tucker and former bookkeeper Karen Duhon participated in an effort to defraud the company of assets. Tucker died in January 2014.
Peveto also made statements in the affidavit about attorney Michael Aloise Jr.’s alleged involvement in preparing fraudulent legal documents to conceal some of the theft. Aloise has not been charged with any crime in connection with the case. On Sept. 10, 2015, Aloise sued Capital Management for defamation.
Aloise’s attorney John A. Stewart Jr. filed a motion Feb. 4 asking a judge to compel Peveto to appear for her deposition to answer questions about the affidavits and any contact she may have with Capital Management representatives regarding preparation and execution of the affidavits, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records. Attorneys for Tucker’s successors joined Stewart’s motion to compel to appear for deposition.
Additionally, Stewart re-quested that Peveto answer questions about any promises or consideration Capital Management or its attorneys offered in exchange for the affidavit and “her cooperation in the matter.”
If Peveto doesn’t testify about the affidavits, Stewart requested that the court declare her affidavits inadmissible and hold her in contempt of court.
Capital Management and Peveto have been ordered to appear in court Feb. 25 to show why the court shouldn’t grant the motion, court records show.
Notary publics Karla B. Miller and Barbara L. Irwin prepared the affidavits. Irwin is listed as an attorney for Capital Management in the lawsuit.
On June 29, District Attorney Bo Duhe filed a bill of information collectively charging Karen Duhon and Armond Duhon, who are married, Peveto, A-B-C Siding Co. of Morgan City and Nelson-Tucker LLC with one count of racketeering, 354 counts of theft of $1,500 or more, and 100 counts of money laundering.
Tucker owned Nelson-Tucker, while the Duhons own A-B-C Siding Co. of Morgan City.
Capital Management filed a lawsuit Dec. 30, 2014, against the Duhons, Tucker’s successors and Peveto; and in a separate lawsuit Jan. 26, 2015, against Aloise. The two lawsuits have since been consolidated into one lawsuit.
Peveto said in the affidavits that she, 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.”
Tucker was the master-mind and directed Karen Duhon and Peveto on how to commit the thefts, Peveto 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.
In Peveto’s affidavits for the civil lawsuit, she stated that she had known Tucker, Karen Duhon and Aloise for over 30 years. Peveto stated that Aloise was Capital Management’s attorney and represented the company on real estate transactions.
“Aloise was a confidante of James Scott Tucker and had a close personal and professional relationship with James Scott Tucker,” 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 stated.
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 said.
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.
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.
For some of the legal work of which the Guarisco family complains in the suit, Aloise was not acting as a lawyer, but rather simply as a notary public, Aloise said.
“Some documents were prepared by Scott Tucker and I was asked only to notarize the signatures,” Aloise said.
Other than on the three occasions over a seven year period from 2004 through 2011, for which he received the $1,400, Aloise had no recollection of performing any other legal services on behalf of Capital Management Consultants nor receiving any other fee, he said.
“In other words for my legal services the entire amount ever paid to me by CMCI was $1,400,” Aloise said in February 2015.