Company Says CFO Swiped Money for a Hit Man to Kill His Wife

FORT WORTH, Texas (CN) - A CFO charged with hiring a hit man to kill his wife used his employer's money to pay for it, and claimed that some of the money he swiped was for "office supplies," a Nevada company claims in court.

Raley Holdings LLC sued John Franklin Howard, 52, of Carrollton, Texas, and JP Morgan Chase Bank, in Tarrant County Court.

"Defendant was recently arrested for solicitation of capital murder," the complaint states. "Defendant is alleged to have hired one or more individuals to murder his wife. According to the Affidavit for Arrest Warrant or Capias, defendant wired funds from one of more of the subject accounts to compensate individuals for illegal and improper acts. Plaintiff did not authorize these transfers and had no knowledge of these transfers." (Reference to exhibit omitted.)

Nancy Howard lost an eye when she was shot in the face by the paid hit man on Aug. 24, according to the affidavit.

Police arrested Dustin Hiroms on Aug. 24, and charged him with the aggravated robbery of Nancy Howard, according to the affidavit. It states that Hiroms told police that Howard paid him $80,000 to kill his wife.

"Dustin stated that John believed that a gunshot would bring too much attention and that John wanted him to make it look like a robbery and either kill Nancy with a knife or a bat," the affidavit states.

In its complaint, Raley Holdings claims Howard formed several companies to manage its money. It claims Howard abused those companies to siphon millions of dollars from Raley accounts in Kuwait into four JP Morgan Chase Bank accounts in his name.

"(M)illions of dollars of these funds are unaccounted for," the complaint states.

It adds: "Defendant abused his check-writing authority by writing checks to himself. Defendant attempted to hide his conduct by making false entries in plaintiffs' accounting records by misclassifying the payments as 'office supplies.' Defendant wrote at least $144,000 in such checks."

Raley seeks an accounting and damages for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, money had and received, and unjust enrichment.

It is represented by Fitzpatrick Hagood Smith & Uhl, of Dallas.

John Howard's bail was set at $1 million, according to the Warrant of Arrest and Detention.

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