MORGANTOWN — A civil lawsuit claims two people, including the former operations manager of a construction company, embezzled company funds and seeks an $8.5 million judgement.
Michael Allen and Meredyth Russell Wilson were named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in October 2020 by Biafora Holding Limited Liability Co. and ABB, LLC, which operates as Accelerated Construction Services.
The case against Wilson was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs in May.
“After filing, Ms. Wilson provided information to us that demonstrated that Mr. Allen acted alone, therefore we believed it appropriate to dismiss the case against her,” Mark Kepple, attorney for Accelerated, told The Dominion Post.
He said Allen, the company’s former day-to-day operations manager, was separated from the company in October 2020 and no longer has anything to do with the company.
According to the suit, Allen accepted payments on behalf of “Real Accelerated” and then either deposited them into his company with the “suspiciously similar trade name of Accelerated Construction Management, LLC (False Accelerated),” or cashed the checks.
In a response and counterclaim, Allen denies all the allegations and claims ABB Construction breached its fiduciary duty and fair dealing in compensating him. Allen also claims unjust enrichment and that there was a profit sharing agreement, which would pay “one-third of 5% of the construction costs of the projects constructed for the sole benefit of the plaintiffs.”
“Mr. Allen vehemently denies the allegations in the complaint and looks forward to all the facts coming to light,” his attorney Lance Rollo said.
No criminal charges have been filed against Allen.
However, Kepple said the matter is being investigated by law enforcement and it would be inappropriate to comment further on the case.
There is an active investigation by the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office involving Allen, Chief Deputy Mark Ralston said. No further details were available as the investigation is ongoing.
The counterclaim’s allegations are denied in a response filed by Kepple. The response does admit there was a “compensation structure equal to 1/3 of 5% existed for some projects and was fully performed.”
In total, the plaintiffs believe the funds taken by Allen and/or Wilson will exceed $2.4 million. The $8.5 million judgement sought includes punitive damage, interests, and attorneys fees.
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