Zachary Fitzgerald
Capital Management Consultants has reached a settlement with the estate of former company accountant James Scott Tucker, who was allegedly the mastermind behind a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the company, according to a company official.
The company and members of the Guarisco family, who own Capital Management, recently settled with Tucker’s estate; his firm, Nelson-Tucker LLC; and his two daughters, who were his successors, Capital Management spokesman Marwan Mohey-El- Dien said Monday.
Mohey-El-Dien didn’t specify any of the terms of the settlement. The settlement wasn’t listed in St. Mary Parish clerk of court records as of Monday.
Robert Burvant, an attorney for the Tucker defendants, said he had no comment on the lawsuit.
Company officials discovered the alleged theft shortly after Tucker’s “sudden and unexpected death” in January 2014, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which was filed in December 2014 in 16th Judicial District Court, alleged that Tucker was the mastermind behind a scheme to steal millions of dollars from Morgan City-based company, Capital Management Consultants, over roughly three decades. Tucker was hired by company founder Peter V. Guarisco in 1977 to work as the accountant for Guarisco’s companies. Guarisco died in 2005.
Other defendants in the lawsuit included a former bookkeeper, Karen Duhon; her husband, Armond Duhon; and a former assistant to management, Donnasue Peveto. Peveto died in March 2016.
Capital Management officials filed a separate lawsuit in January 2014 against attorney Michael Aloise , alleging that he assisted in theft of property and property rights. That lawsuit was later consolidated with the December 2014 lawsuit.
In September 2016, all fraud claims against Aloise were dismissed in district court. But Capital Management is in the process of appealing that ruling in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge, Mohey-El-Dien said.
On the criminal side of the case, Armond Duhon was found guilty June 16 of 221 counts of theft, two counts of money laundering and one count of racketeering. District Judge Keith Comeaux sentenced Armond Duhon to serve 20 years in prison at hard labor and pay $2.3 million in restitution.
Armond Duhon requested an appeal and was granted that request Sept. 22, court records stated. His case will go before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal.
During Armond Duhon’s trial, Peter Guarisco’s children testified that they fully trusted Tucker and allowed him to run the company with little supervision.
Before Peveto died, she pleaded guilty in December 2015 to 123 counts of theft and one count of racketeering and had agreed to testify against her co-defendants.
Karen Duhon’s trial on criminal charges is scheduled for Nov. 13 in district court. However, her public defender, Lynden Burton, was suspended Sept. 22 from the practice of law on an interim basis by the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board.
In March, Burton and his ex-wife, both attorneys, pleaded guilty to willfully failing to file federal tax returns, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana.
For 2007, 2008 and 2009, they did not file individual income tax returns despite earning income from their law practice and the tax return preparation business, the release said. They filed delinquent returns after learning that they were under criminal investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.
District Defender Cecelia “Beanie” Bonin, who runs the 16th Judicial District public defender’s office, said Tuesday that Burton is no longer Karen Duhon’s attorney, but a new attorney hasn’t yet been assigned to her.