Westport widow says brother-in-law looted Port Chester companies
Westport, Connecticut widow Pamela H. Olson claims that her brother-in-law has looted the family”™s Port Chester businesses.
Olson, individually and as executrix of the estate of Kenneth M. Olson, sued Richard Olson, Poko Management Corp., Poko Partners and Koor Construction and Supply Co. on Nov. 13 in Westchester Supreme Court.
“Richard, as the shareholder and officer with exclusive dominion and control over Poko Management,” she charges, has “looted, misdirected, wasted or diverted ”¦ assets for his own benefit.”
Richard Olson did not respond to an email sent to Poko Management asking for his side of the story.
The Poko entities, founded by Kenneth Olson in 1993, has built several inner-city residential and retail complexes in New York, New Jersey and Wall Street Place in Norwalk, Connecticut.
When Kenneth died in 2017, at age 58 of Lou Gehrig”™s Disease, Pamela and the estate collectively owned 90% of Poko Partners, 60% of Poko Management and 50% of Koor, according to the lawsuit. Richard owned the rest.
Richard, of Floral Park, Nassau County, controlled the enterprises. When Pamela asked for business records to identify estate assets, he allegedly provided incomplete information.
The records that were provided raised serious concerns, according to the lawsuit, about how Richard ran the businesses.
She claims that balance sheets, for instance, indicate that her husband had loaned $416,745 to the businesses, yet Richard denies that anything is owed to the estate.
She claims that Koor Construction paid Richard more than $1.1 million after Kenneth died, “ostensibly as loan repayments,” while not paying debts to the estate or other creditors. Then Richard allegedly dissolved Koor in 2018 without notifying or seeking consent from Pamela, and he has allegedly failed to provide an accounting of its assets.
Pamela Olson accuses Richard Olson of breaches of fiduciary duty. She is demanding $416,745 as repayment of her husband”™s loans, and she is asking the court to appoint a receiver to liquidate and dissolve Poko Management and wind up the affairs of Koors.
Manhattan attorney Robert M. Fleischer represent Pamela Olson and the estate.