Timeshare Resale Firm Busted in Lake Worth

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LAKE WORTH, FLA. – Two men were arrested last week, and charged with pretending to be working for the Florida Attorney General’s office while they were claiming to help victims of timeshare fraud get refunds.

Instead, the office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said it was all a ruse. Nicholas Paul, the owner of Provident Choice LLC, and Gerald W. Clarke of William Clarke, P.A., got arrested on Friday, March 9 as part of an investigation that the Florida Attorney General’s office conducted with the Delray Beach Police Department.

The arrests come as the Florida Legislature recently approved legislation that Bondi’s office had filed, to toughen state laws on timeshare fraud.

The bill picked up the endorsement of BuyATimeshare.com, which announced it would support Florida Senate Bill 1408, which passed both the full Senate and the Florida House of Representatives, and has been sent to Gov. Rick Scott’s office for his signature. The governor has already has promised to sign the bill. The new law would go into effect on July 1, 2012.

The arrests in Delray Beach police came from an investigation into timeshare resale fraud.

Provident Choice and William Clarke P.A., the Attorney General’s office says, had claimed to be working under the jurisdiction of Bondi and other state agencies in an effort to get refunds for victims of timeshare resale fraud, but law enforcement officials said the two men collected upfront fees that ranged from $400 to $4,000 to help the victims.

The new timeshare legislation is designed to make resale fraud much harder, by requiring resale operators to get a signed contract from a timeshare owner who wants to sell their property before the owner has to pay any unfront fees, such as the cost of advertising the resort. In many instances, victims have reported that they paid up front fees but never heard from the resale company again.

Wesley Kogelman, the president and CEO of BuyaTimeshare.com, said its standard practice at his firm to use contracts and written agreements.

“We make sure that we have a signed, written contract with owners looking to advertise to sell their timeshare on our website so they understand exactly what they are purchasing,” said Kogelman. “It is outrageous that some of these fraudulent companies call owners just to get their credit card numbers, and hopefully this new legislation will result in these bad operators being put out of business to protect consumers.”

He said the site also provides verification of owner and resort information to the seller, a process that Kogelman said increases customer satisfaction because there’s no misunderstanding about what will be done for the seller, and what the expectations are.

“Our system is designed to intuitively confirm the resort information so buyers know that the week’s resort information advertised on our site is exactly what’s on the recorded deed. This makes for an easier purchasing process, ensures that the weeks are legitimate and what they see is exactly what they are going to get,” added Kogelman.