Three people arrested, face 455 counts in Capital Management scandal

Karen Duhon, Armond Duhon, Donnasue Peveto and two businesses face 455 counts of charges including racketeering, theft of $1,500 or more and money laundering from Capital Management Consultants Inc. in Morgan City, according to the 16th Judicial District Attorney.
District Attorney Bo Duhe filed the bill of information June 29, collectively charging Karen 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. First Assistant District Attorney Robert Vines, who signed the bill, provided the 81-page document to The Daily Review upon request.
The Duhons own A-B-C Siding Co., while former Capital Management Consultants CPA Scott Tucker owned Nelson-Tucker LLC. Tucker died in January 2014.
On the racketeering charge, the suspects are accused of being part of a “criminal enterprise” that began before Jan. 1, 2001, and continued through March 25, 2014, when Morgan City police began an investigation into the alleged crimes. The suspects are alleged to have knowingly received proceeds derived from racketeering activity and used proceeds to acquire immovable property, the bill stated.
On July 24, 2014, Peveto, of Houma, was arrested by Morgan City police on seven counts of theft more than $1,500 totaling $633,700 from Capital Management Consultants.
On July 29, 2014, Karen Duhon of Morgan City was charged by Morgan City police on eight counts of felony theft totaling $1.233 million and, on Jan. 2, was additionally charged with 28 counts of theft of over $1,500 totaling $221,801.01 Duhon was accused of opening four credit card accounts and using funds from accounts belonging to a member and owner of Capital Managements Consultants Inc., police said.
On June 25, Armond Duhon was arrested on charges for 23 counts of theft over $1,500 totaling $773,785.27, money laundering, intimidation of witnesses and racketeering in connection with the case.
In a lawsuit filed Dec. 30, 2014, Capital Management Consultants alleged that Tucker, the company’s former controller CPA, was the leader behind a conspiracy to steal money from the company along with former bookkeeper Karen Duhon dating back possibly to the early 1980s. The company also alleged that Karen Duhon and Tucker had a sexual relationship.
Peveto, who worked as an assistant bookkeeper and assistant to management, found out about Scott Tucker and Karen Duhon’s theft from the company so they paid her to stay quiet, Capital Management Consultants spokesman Marwan Mohey-El-Dien said.
Mohey-El-Dien is married to Laura Guarisco, daughter of company founder the late Peter V. Guarisco, who discovered the theft after Tucker died, Mohey-El-Dien said.
Guarisco turned the information over to accountant Mark Munson and company President Victor Guarisco, Mohey-El-Dien said.
In January, Mohey-El-Dien said the company had forensically proven more than $15 million in theft from Capital Management and believed that number could be as high as $30 million.
The district attorney’s bill alleges that the group participated in a “pattern of racketeering activity” as employees or associates of the criminal enterprise. In addition to the charges filed in the bill, it also accuses the enterprise of engaging in obstruction, fraud, forgery and subterfuge.
The criminal activity entailed the “theft of large sums of cash through fraud, deception and subterfuge” along with the “conversion and taking of assets with intent to defraud” and “theft by fraudulent transfer of immovable property through fraud, deception, forgery, misappropriation, and subterfuge,” the bill stated.
As part of the alleged scheme, the bill says the suspects participated in money laundering by conducting financial transactions in such a manner to conceal “the nature, source and ownership of the proceeds known to be derived from the criminal activity” in addition to investing and spending proceeds derived from the illegal activity, the bill said.
The counts of money laundering charges and theft of $1,500 or more stem from numerous checks deposited into Peveto’s personal bank account or Karen Duhon’s and Armond Duhon’s account, according to the bill of information. Many of the checks were executed by Tucker, the documents stated.
The checks repeatedly deposited into the suspects’ personal bank accounts included amounts such as $4,500, $9,738, $9,788, $9,985, and $14,000, the bill stated. Some of the checks were also made payable to the Duhons’ company, A-B-C Siding, the bill said.
Artwork owned by the Guarisco family was also sold without the consent of the family, the charges stated. In one count of theft, Peveto was accused of providing authentic Salvador Dali lithographs to someone else without consent of the Guarisco family.
The charges also allege that Tucker fraudulently transferred the title to land in Willowcrest Subdivision from Capital Management Consultants to his business, Nelson-Tucker LLC.
In a Jan. 26 lawsuit, Capital Management Consultants also accused attorney Michael Aloise Jr. of aiding and abetting the theft through the illegal sale of property and property rights. Aloise is not charged in the district attorney’s bill of information and hasn’t been charged with any crimes in connection with the case.
The company’s lawsuit against Aloise alleged that Tucker knew of an offer to lease property in Willowcrest Subdivision for exploration and extraction of natural resources, including minerals and oil, and gas. In order to make his percentage of royalties or lease payments greater, the lawsuit alleged, Tucker devised a scheme with Aloise to reacquire the lot, which he wasn’t authorized to have sold in the first place, so that he could transfer the mineral rights to his company Nelson-Tucker Ltd., now Nelson-Tucker LLC.
In a statement this morning, Morgan City Police Chief James Blair said, “With the bill of information being filed by the District Attorney and based on the evidence presented thus far, we have begun to bring the investigation to a close. However, if additional evidence is presented, we will conduct a thorough investigation.”

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.