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Transportation mogul Manuel Moroun has managed over the years to keep a pretty good lid on the inner workings of CenTra Inc., his large Warren-based holding company.
But a feud between Moroun and his three younger sisters over an unpaid $3 million CenTra dividend, and his on-going dispute with Nebraska insurance regulators (see related story, Page 1), give a rare, inside look at Moroun's very private empire.
His sisters--Victoria Baks, Florence McBrien and Agnes Ann Moroun--sued Moroun and two top CenTra executives in early August in Oakland County Circuit Court, trying to collect the dividend they voted for themselves as directors.
The other defendants in the sisters' lawsuit are CenTra CFO Norman Harned; CenTra director and Executive Vice President Ron Lech; and CenTra's corporate stockbroker Dean, Witter, Reynolds Inc. Moroun's son, Matthew, was added later as a defendant.
The defendants say in court papers that the sisters' claims are unfounded.
Norman Lippitt, defendant Lech's lawyer, said the sisters don't understand CenTra's business. He said the special board meeting they called in July was "illegally conceived and illegally conducted."
Said Lippitt, of Birmingham-based Hyman & Lippitt: CenTra is "extremely well-run by Moroun."
The sisters are represented by Ira Jaffe, a co-founder of Detroit-based Jaffe, Raitt, Heier & Weiss P.C.
The sisters amended their Oakland County suit in late September. They added several new allegations, including that Manuel Moroun:
* Improperly diverted nearly $60 million from CenTra for his personal benefit and to invest in other ventures which he is benefitting;
* Wrongly obtained $24 million from CenTra to buy himself Lakeshore Properties of Michigan Inc., a company with real estate holdings;
* Has long dominated CenTra for his...