Mark Gardner of Orland, FL—United States Attorney has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering and for his role in the operation of a boiler room (sales room)
He now faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for the money laundering count. Sentencing has been set for October 30, 2015.
Others in the rouse is Tammie Lynn Cline (33, Leominster, MA) were indicted on January 28, 2015.
According to court documents, Gardner and Cline operated a boiler room in Central Florida. Along with the telemarketers who worked at their call centre, they made unsolicited calls to owners of timeshare properties located throughout the United States.
During those calls, they claimed that they worked for Universal Timeshare Sales Associates (UTSA) in Beaverton, Oregon,
This is passing off and does happen in the UK and Spain. Consumers should always check out such callers independently, as trustworthy companies do not have a need to cold call or hand out scratch cards.
Like many crooks they claimed to have a purchaser who was interested in buying a timeshare, and that the timeshare owner just needed to pay a fee between $1,600 and $2,200 for the sale to proceed.
This Tac-Tic is repeated all over the world and deludes the consumers into a belief that a benefit will be “had” if they part with money. This angle is a blatant lie. The re selling of timeshare in the UK is regulated under “The Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010” It states:-
Resellers Advance consideration section (25).
(5) No person may accept any consideration from the consumer before— (a) the sale of those rights takes place, or (b) the contract is otherwise terminated.
Many reseller charge fees and label them as admin fees, advertising fees or listing fees. This practise is unlawful yet widespread. The industry governs itself, and appears to turn a blind eye to the many “consideration” being taken from consumers. No this: you can claim all you money back from any reseller who has charged you and failed to sell your timeshare.
Don’t be duped by fancy website and suited and booted salesmen!
The above sited case states in the USA states: “In order to convince timeshare owners to pay the fee, Gardner, Cline and their telemarketers sometimes claimed that an interested purchaser was present in the showroom ready to buy a timeshare, that a buyer had already deposited money into an escrow account for the sale, or that the sale would take place in about 90 days. Those representations were false”.
In total, victims lost approximately $1.6 million due to the operation of the call centre.
In May 2013, the Federal Trade Commission and the Florida Attorney General’s Office filed a civil action against Gardner, Cline, and others in federal court. In June 2014, the district court entered a permanent injunction against them related to certain telemarketing practices.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk