A Mexican widow is suing her ex-fiance, alleging he swindled her out of more than $240,000.
Julieta Alejandra Gomez Olvera filed a lawsuit July 1 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against Juan Mauricio Nelligan of The Woodlands, alleging liability in a long con she says robbed her of her assets starting in 2014.
According to the complaint, the parties met, became briefly involved in 1987 and then went their separate ways. The suit says after Olvera’s husband died in November 2013 and she had received approximately $230,000 in death benefits, she and Nelligan reconnected and rekindled their relationship, with plans to marry and blend their families.
The lawsuit states Nelligan asked Olvera for $150,000 on Aug. 24, 2014, to buy a home, allegedly stating only he could handle the transaction because she was not a U.S. citizen. The plaintiff deposited funds into the defendant’s Houston bank account via wire transfer Sept. 14, 2014, the suit says.
Court documents says Olvera then made an additional deposit of $58,013 for Nelligan on Oct. 17, 2014, ostensibly to buy a van for their families, and in late October 2014, complied again when Nelligan requested an additional $35,947.04, allegedly to purchase an upscale home in The Woodlands.
According to the filing, when Olvera visited the defendant in Texas in late November, Nelligan broke off the engagement but stated he still wanted to see her. The suit states when he visited Mexico on Dec. 18, 2014, and the plaintiff demanded her money back, he crashed her car into a pole, reneged on his promise to pay for the damage, and refused to return her funds despite additional demands in January and February 2015.
The plaintiff argues Nelligan willfully and maliciously stole $243,960.04 from her in death insurance funds. The suit lists counts of fraud, theft, conversion of property, breach of contract and unjust enrichment against the defendant.
Olvera seeks injunctive action protecting any property purchased with her funds, declaratory judgment, and up to $100,000 in compensation for actual, consequential, exemplary and punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees, expenses and costs. She is represented by attorneys John Sheppard and Nicholas Morrow of Morrow & Sheppard in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number 4
:15-cv-01878.