MONROE, La. – A Louisiana oilfield and offshore services company alleges a group of consultants committed fraud, false invoicing, racketeering and commercial misconduct.
Plaintiff Dynamic Production Services Inc., or DPS, filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division.
The named defendants include James DelBuono, Eddie Eichler, Mitchell Brown, Terry McCrary, Bobby Riley, Channing Wilkes, Cullen DeFries, and Jordan Olson. DelBuono is a Colorado resident; Eichler, Riley, Wilkes, and Olson are Texas residents; Brown, McCrary, and DeFries are Oklahoma residents.
DPS retained DelBuono, Eichler, Brown, McCrary, Riley, Wilkes, and DeFries for work to be performed for Silver Hill Energy Partners LLC, a private oil and gas company headquartered in Dallas.
“The Consultant Defendants submitted, approved, transmitted, caused to be transmitted, and/or benefited from detailed invoices, timesheets, and payment requests representing that compensable Silver Hill work was being performed,” the 27-page lawsuit states.
“Olson received, routed, coordinated, and transmitted the billing and project information relating to that purported work and served as a central link between the Consultant Defendants, DPS, and the purported Silver Hill approval process.”
But those representations are false, DPS contends.
DPS claims the defendants were not performing the field work reflected by the disputed billing records.
During the relevant period, DPS paid at least about $920,720 in connection with the purported Silver Hill consulting work, including about $15,732 paid directly to Olson for his alleged consulting services.
“After DPS uncovered the scheme, the Consultant Defendants contended through counsel that the disputed billing was actually for ‘standby’ time and that Olson instructed them to bill in that fashion,” the lawsuit states.
But the billing records did not disclose that the claimed “workdays,” well assignments, and per diem charges represented mere standby status, the filing states.
DPS argues they were “facially structured” as records supporting payment for compensable work.
The company contends the consultants’ written agreements with DPS conditioned compensation on compensable services and days worked on location, and expressly restricted invoicing to days on which the consultant was physically present on location.
The agreements, DPS argues, did not authorize the disputed daily rate or per diem compensation “merely for remaining available or waiting to mobilize.”
DPS seeks recovery of the funds it argues was wrongfully obtained, including actual damages of at least $998,769 in “presently identified” consulting payouts; treble damages; attorney fees; investigation and litigation costs; and interest.
Attorney Russell A. Woodard Jr. in Ruston, Louisiana, is representing DPS in the suit.
