Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIn an explosive new lawsuit, Tomisue Hilbert has accused hardware store owner and former business partner John Menard of pressuring her to have sex with him and then retaliating against her and her husband Steve when she refused.
The lawsuit, filed May 29 in Hamilton County, claims that Tomisue Hilbert’s negative response to Menard’s sexual advances is the reason behind Menard’s successful drive to oust the Hilberts as the managers of a private equity fund that Menard had financed.
Menard won a preliminary injunction in a Wisconsin court on Feb. 19, removing Steve Hilbert as manager of the MH Private Equity funds. Menard and his team have since fired at least four employees of the largest company managed by the fund, put another company into bankruptcy liquidation and canceled a large promotional contract with the model Melania Trump, wife of Donald Trump, which prompted her to sue for $50 million in damages in an arbitration proceeding.
Menard and the Hilberts had been friends for more than a decade before they formed MH Private Equity in 2005 and later spent $495 million on eight investments.
But in August 2011, Menard claimed that those ivnestments had lost 70 percent of their value, and he refused to pay the Hilberts as much as they claimed they were owed for managing the six companies owned by the funds.
That change of attitude from Menard, however, was immediately preceded by more than two months’ worth of rebuffed requests for sex, according to Tomisue Hilbert’s lawsuit—including touching an invitation to have a threesome with Menard’s wife, Fay.
That invitation allegedly occurred at the Hilberts’ home in St. Martin, where the Menards often visited. During that visit, Tomisue Hilbert claims John Menard touched her several times “despite her obvious reluctance.”
“On May 30, 2011, Mr. Menard demanded that Mrs. Hilbert join both him and his wife for sex after her husband (Steve Hilbert) went to bed,” states Tomisue Hilbert’s lawsuit. “Mr. Menard further told Mrs. Hilbert that if she refused there would be serious ‘financial consequences.’”
Menard allegedly repeated his request for sex the next day and in a phone call with Tomisue Hilbert on July 12, 2011. Tomisue Hilbert also suggests that Fay Menard, on two other occasions, encouraged Tomisue Hilbert to visit the Menards’ homes so they could “carry over from St. Martin.”
Neither Menard nor his corporate entities have yet responded to Tomisue Hilbert's lawsuit in court. A lawyer and publicist for Menard did not provide a response when contacted about Tomisue Hilbert's lawsuit.
Once Menard had control of the MH Equity companies, he moved quickly to make his presence felt.
On March 1, Menard personally came to the Indianapolis headquarters of New Sunshine LLC, a skincare products company and the largest of the businesses owned by MH Private Equity. According to Tomisue Hilbert's lawsuit, Menard fired Eric Weber, the president of New Sunshine, Scott Matthews, who had been executive vice president of New Sunshine, and Todd Hilbert, the son of Steve and Tomisue, who had also been working for New Sunshine.
Three days later, according to Tomisue Hilbert's lawsuit, New Sunshine's subsidary Australian Gold LLC fired Lisa Trudeau, wife of former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jack Trudeau, both of whom have been longtime friends of the Hilberts. That same day, Australian Gold filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County claiming Trudeau should pay back five years of wages for failing to act in the comapny's "best interests" and for improperly claiming $204,000 in expenses.
Also on March 4, New Sunshine and Australian Gold sued Trent Decatur, the son of the alte Dr. David Decatur, a longtime Hilbert friend. Trent Decatur had been paid by New SUnshine to develop sales channels in Asia, but the Menard team claimed that Decatur didnt actually do any work. They want him to reimburse New Sunshine for the fees he was paid.
On March 12, another MH Private Equity company, Michigan-based Entertainment Publications LLC, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
On March 13, New Sunshine sent a letter to Melania Trump, canceling a promotional deal for the launch of a new skin care product. Trump filed a lawsuit with an arbitrator, claiming New Sunshine's actions had resulted in $50 million in damages.
The Menard team has since filed a lawsuit in Marion County, claiming that because the contract with Melania Trump was signed while Steve Hilbert still managing MH Private Equity and New Sunshine, the contract is void. The Menard team claims that it removed Hilbert from his position in June 2012, but that Hilbert refused to leave until the Wisconsin court acted in February.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.