$6M forfeiture sought in Capital Management case

FRANKLIN -- In a lawsuit filed Monday, the 16th Judicial District attorney says five defendants in the alleged racketeering, money laundering and theft scheme from Capital Management Consultants in Morgan City should be ordered to forfeit $6 million to $8 million of currency in addition to property.
District Attorney Bo Duhe filed the lawsuit against Karen Duhon, Armond Duhon, their company A-B-C Siding of Morgan City and Nelson-Tucker LLC, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records.
Nelson-Tucker was owned by former Capital Management Consultants controller CPA James Scott Tucker. Tucker died in January 2014.
The suit was signed by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Shealy.
According to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court’s Office records, the lawsuit alleges the defendants “engaged in various patterns of racketeering activity continuously for more than 13 years.
The lawsuit also says the defendants “are subject to a judgment of treble damages to the State, plus expenses, attorney’s fees, and costs.”
According to the lawsuit, the state of Louisiana has the right to seize illegal proceeds received, negotiated or processed by all the defendants.
The lawsuit says the state has the right to seize illegal proceeds including proceeds that were transferred into the hands or bank accounts of Karen Duhon, Armond Duhon, A-B-C Siding Co. of Morgan City, Donnasue Peveto and Nelson-Tucker LLC, proceeds transferred personally or through bank accounts into every business entity which the defendants deposited those proceeds.
The state also has the right to seize illegal proceeds transferred to the vendor for the purchase of every item of movable and immovable property purchased with the proceeds, the lawsuit argues.
On June 29, Duhe filed a bill of information charging Karen Duhon, Armond Duhon, Donnasue Peveto, A-B-C Siding Co. of Morgan City and Nelson-Tucker with one count of racketeering, 354 counts of theft of $1,500 or more, and 100 counts of money laundering from Capital Management Consultants.
First Assistant District Attorney Robert Vines said all of the defendants charged in the bill are alleged to have been part of the racketeering activity, but not all of the defendants face each theft or money laundering charge.
In the bill of information, the suspects were 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 of 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.
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 Dec. 30, 2014, lawsuit Capital Management Consultants’ officials accused Tucker and Karen Duhon, a former bookkeeper for Capital Management who worked directly under Tucker, of stealing as much as $30 million during a roughly 30-year period by using a manual, outdated accounting system to conceal the theft.
Capital Management’s lawsuit alleged that Karen Duhon and Tucker were in a romantic relationship.
Laura Guarisco, daughter of company founder the late Peter V. Guarisco, discovered the alleged theft after Tucker died, Capital Management Consultants Marwan Mohey-El-Dien said. Mohey-El-Dien is married to Laura Guarisco.
Company officials further alleged that Tucker and Karen Duhon paid Peveto, a former assistant bookkeeper and assistant to management, to stay quiet after she found out about the scheme.
Though none of the defendants in the lawsuit that the state filed Monday yet have an attorney assigned to the case, The Daily Review left a message with the office of attorney Laura Randall, who is representing the Duhons in the lawsuit they filed June 30 against Capital Management Consultants, for comment on the lawsuit filed against her clients Monday.
As of this morning, Randall had not contacted The Daily Review.

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