UNITED STATES-ANOTHER MEAT SCANDAL.
Two investors who joined in a pair business ventures with Don Tyson’s girlfriend claim she and Tyson conspired to defraud them of their ownership in these companies.
Randy Duncan and Doug McKay claim in a countersuit filed Friday that Shelby Rogers took deliberate steps to takeover their ownership in two limited liability companies - East Properties and McLar Development. They claim that Don Tyson, for mer Tyson Foods chairman, knew about her plans and helped facilitate it. Tyson denies any wrongdoing, his attorney said.
Duncan and McKay, filing the counterclaim as owners in McLar Development, allege that Rogers, president of the Tyson Family Foundation, failed to fully disclose her "intimate and romantic relationship" with Tyson, who now lives in Texas .
McLar Development was formed in September 2004 to purchase investment proper ty nor th of the Rogers ’ airport. Duncan, McKay and Rogers each own one-third of the company, according to the operating agreement.
Related lawsuits
Tyson filed a lawsuit in Washington County in February seeking judgment on a delinquent $100,000 promissory note from East Properties, which was formed in August 2007 for the development and management of Happy Tails Pet Wash.
Duncan and McKay each owned 25 percent, Rogers had 30 percent and other investors owned the rest of East Properties, according to the operating agreement. Duncan and McKay claim that Rogers had no authority to borrow $100,000 from T.L.P. Investment, which Tyson holds an ownership interest in.
Tyson also filed a lawsuit in Benton County seeking to collect $3 million that his company, T.L.P., loaned McLar Development to payoff an interim construction loan to a local bank.
Tyson’s attorney, Tim Brooks, would not comment on the specifics or substance of pending litigation, but he said the allegations that Tyson acted improperly are without merit.
"These matters involve two promissory notes which are unequivocally in default. The allegations by (Duncan and McKay) are not true, without merit, and are made in an effort to avoid summary judgment on legitimate debts," Taylor said in an email.
In January, Rogers filed a lawsuit in Washington County against McLar, claiming that the company owed her more than $257,000 in past due principal and interest. This includes $92,000 in wages for bookkeeping services and loans, according to the complaint.
Duncan and McKay further allege in the countersuit that Rogers paid $62,000 in rent using East Properties funds to McLar Development, even though the fair market value of that rent would have been about $4,800. Those funds were then allegedly paid by McLar to Tyson’s T.L.P.
Business woes
Westbrook Doss, the attorney for McLar Development, said that Duncan and McKay asked Rogers to join them in two money-making ventures, but she tried instead to use her connection with Tyson to take away their ownership interest.
His clients claim that Rogers contacted the managing partner of Academy Aviation, which was already leasing space from McLar and said that she was not going to lease space to them. They accuse Rogers of running off this key tenant and hurting their chances of getting other ones.
"There were numerous letters of intent being negotiated with the businesses affiliated with the aviation academy that would have leased up virtually all of McLar’s vacant space; therefore, making it a successful project," the counterclaim states. " Rogers , utilizing her relationship with Tyson, notified others within the business that they were not to work with Duncan and McKay, making it impossible to carry out the development of McLar’s assets."
Rogers is also accused in the countersuit of moving East Properties to Harrison and putting the business under the management of her brother, Bill Rogers. A new bank account was set up, and company funds were used to pay some personal expenses for both Bill and Shelby Rogers, according to the countersuit.
Rogers did not return phone messages seeking comment, and her attorney, Josh McFadden, refused comment on pending litigation.
Rogers claims in an affidavit dated March 19 that Duncan and McKay committed wrongful acts against her by converting East Properties funds for their personal use and failing to distribute the proceeds of the sake of a pet washing unit.
nwanews.com
