Federal prosecutors plan to seize a $76,188 legal settlement from a now-defunct Denham Springs dealership convicted in a drug money laundering scheme nearly five years ago.
Court filings indicate the money will go toward a $627,480 judgment the company still owes the federal government that continues to grow with interest.
A writ of continuing garnishment was issued Tuesday to Estes Davis Law firm, seeking money held for Calmes Motorsports in a client trust account. The writ does not indicate what the settlement money is for.
In a 2012 trial that included testimony from convicted drug dealers, prosecutors alleged the company and its sales manager, Kevin Paul Calmes, conspired to launder proceeds of narcotics trafficking over a nine-year period.
Kevin Calmes was sentenced to 30 months in prison after a jury convicted him on five felony counts for money laundering, failure to file required reports of cash transactions and structuring transactions to evade cash reporting requirements.
Calmes Motorsports, which sold motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, was convicted on one count of failure to file required reports of cash transactions and three counts of structuring transactions to evade cash reporting requirements. It was fined $500,000, but according to the writ, interest and penalties have now driven the debt to $627,480.
A three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions in 2014.
Calmes Motorsports is no longer in business. Motorsport dealer Outdoor Powerhouse, whose manager is listed as Kelly Sherburne Calmes, has taken its place at the same Florida Boulevard location, with the same telephone number. Kacey Calmes, who is listed in the writ as the contact for Calmes Motorsports, declined to say what the soon-to-be-seized legal settlement is for. “Calmes is dead and gone,” he tells Daily Report. “I really don’t have any comment on this.”
—Penny Font
