Allegations include fraud, lies, and deception in a tale that involves glamour, Hollywood stars, timeshares, and an unsolved murder.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has frozen the assets of companies run by Taiwanese immigrant and longtime Los Angeles resident, Danny Pang. Pang allegedly employed a classic Ponzi scheme where money from new investors was used to pay the investment returns of previous investors in an effort to cover a life insurance investment that was not paying off fast enough for the company’s needs.

In a civil lawsuit, the SEC alleges that Pang and his companies have raise hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it coming from investors in Taiwan. The actions of federal regulators came shortly after the Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy article that carried allegations from a former executive in one of Pang’s companies who claims Pang misused investors’ money, double billed them for legal and insurance costs, and lied about his academic credentials. The employee, Nasar Aboubakare, has a $50 million breach-of-contract suit pending against one of Pang’s companies. In the past, Pang has represented himself as a former senior vice president and high-tech merger adviser with Morgan Stanley, and as having an MBA from the University of California at Irvine; neither of which officials have been able to verify.

Little about how timeshares were involved in the scams has been revealed other than this statement that appeared in the OC Register: “Pang and his firm told investors that they would purchase life insurance policies at a discount and then collect the benefits upon the death of the insured. But the policies did not generate sufficient returns to cover all the costs. The SEC said Pang had his company pay the insurance investors with money from clients who invested in timeshares.”

Pang traveled in the highest social circles in Los Angeles and ran his companies, Private Equity Management Group Inc. and Private Equity Management Group LLC, from the nearby city of Irvine. His name frequently made the news as he engaged in fundraising and other civic efforts with Hollywood stars and media celebrities.

In 1997, Pang’s wife, Janie, was the victim of a murder that remains unsolved.

Spanish police arrested six British businesspeople over the weekend. The six were all part of a timeshare business based in Costa del Sol. According to reports released by the AFP Newswire, the timeshare business involved offering: … bogus timeshare title deeds for vacation apartments in exchange for “major sums of money.”

Titles to the timeshare properties (and the same intervals) were sold repeatedly to different buyers.

Last week’s raid follows on the heels of other raids made by Spanish police on a company called Global Vacations, where sixteen British employees were arrested on suspicion of timeshare fraud. The Global Vacations employees have been charged with charging money to timeshares owners, assuring them that they had a buyer for the timeshare and that the money was needed to close the lucrative sale.

Watching Out for Timeshare Scams

During these tight economic times, criminals and fraudsters may become more aggressive than ever. After all, with less money in circulation, defrauding others becomes more of a challenge. Now more than ever, keep your guard up when you buy timeshare or sell timeshare. Deal only with timeshare companies that have a proven record of reliability.

Spain timeshares are some of the most beautiful resorts in the world, and offer many incredible opportunities. If you are interested in buying Spain timeshares, don’t let these stories stop you; consider buying Spain timeshare resales from the individual who currently owns them, or renting Spain timeshare as a way to explore a resort before you buy.

Westgate Timeshares is one of two companies that have agreed to settle in a Federal Trade Commission (FTC investigation into some of the timeshare companies’ marketing practices.

The FTC had brought charges against Westgate Resorts timeshare, and against Accumen Management Services, Inc, and its subsidiary All-in-One vacation Club, LLC for violating the National Do Not Call list. Westgate timeshares will pay $900,000 in the settlement while Accumen will pay $275,000.

Both companies were charged with making telemarketing calls to consumers who had completed entry forms for a sweepstakes. Consumers entering the sweepstakes believed they would be eligible to win a vacation package. Westgate, according to the Orlando Sentinel argued that people who give out their personal information, including their phone number, expect to be contacted. They also blamed a third-party lead provider for the violations, and pointed out that they no longer do business with that company.

Westgate Timeshare Asked for Leniency

Asking for financial leniency due to the nationwide recession and credit crisis, Michael Marder, attorney for Westgate timeshares, says they receive a “disappointing response”.

An Associated Press article, states that more than 167 million phone numbers have been placed on the Do Not Call registry and that the FTC has received thousands of complaints against Westgate timeshare over this matter.

This is a tough time for Westgate timeshares, (who has already laid off thousands of employees) to have to pay this kind of money. But there is always good news in a situation like this; any time the government sends a message like this, it helps keep unethical business practices in check, across the board. On top of that, the $1.2 million collected will go in the US Treasury – and in the end, that benefits all of us.

Other recent The Timeshare Authority blog posts about Westgate timeshare:

• Orlando Timeshare Workers Face More Cutbacks
• Further Layoffs at Westgate Timeshare
• The Other Side to the Westgate Timeshare Lawsuit Story
• More Bad News for Westgate Timeshares, Hit with $1 Million Judgment

Orlando’s Channel 9 TV has been on the trail of a Nevada-based company using some interesting tactics to attract timeshare sellers. According to reporter Todd Ulrich, the timeshare company, Apex Professionals, sends post cards to timeshare owners leading them to believe the company wants to buy their timeshare and inviting them to a meeting to learn more. The post cards say, “Now making immediate offers to timeshare owners who want to sell.”

After a seminar held in an Orlando hotel, (which Action 9 investigators sat in on) the details of the meetings were shared with timeshare industry expert Lisa Ann Schreier. Here’s Ms. Schreier’s take: “These people (Apex Professionals) wanted 35 hundred dollars and your deed which is really unconscionable as far as I’m concerned.”

That’s right, those “immediate offers” being made to timeshare owners turned out to be an offer for the timeshare owner to pay Apex $3500, and then deed their timeshare over to Apex.

Unbelievable, isn’t it?

But it is highly possible that once you sat through the company’s persuasive seminar, listened to stories of how the timeshare industry is failing, how maintenance fees for timeshares are “soaring” and heard that it is impossible to resell your timeshare, you might have walked away believing that in the long run, paying someone to take your timeshare was actually a prudent thing to do.

Not so.

Sell My Timeshare NOW averages over a $1million per day in offers to buy or rent timeshares. Timeshare resales are sold or rented every day. But don’t just take our word for it; follow this link to the Channel 9 website. View their video and see where their investigative report tells you, “Consumer experts say timeshare owners can rent, or sell at a loss, and even that would be a better deal.”

If you no longer wish to own your timeshare, you do have options and none of them should ever involve a deal like this one.

Last week, when customers arrived at the Holiday Presentation Centre at Matford Park, Marsh Barton, Exeter, England, expecting to sit through a timeshare sales presentation, they found only the locked offices and a sign on the door, saying all presentations for the day were cancelled. The handwritten note, offering no additional explanation, left the prospective timeshare buyers – many of whom had traveled significant distances to attend the timeshare sales presentation – perplexed and grumbling.

What the consumers did not know at the time was that the Holiday Presentation Centre had been closed as part of a raid in a trading standards investigation into the selling of holiday schemes. According to a British publication, The Express and Echo, Peter Greene, the fair trading manager for the Devon County Council, said, “Devon Trading Standards officers have today (last Friday) exercised entry warrants at seven addresses in Exeter, Exmouth, and Somerset and seized an amount of material. The investigation is into alleged breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and the sale of holiday ownership schemes. Inquiries are ongoing.”

While police officers were on the scene to prevent any potential disturbance by irate consumers, they would not discuss the situation, as it involves an ongoing investigation.

Problems in the Past at this Timeshare Sales Center

Over the past few years, there have been numerous timeshare sales or vacation presentation companies in action at this location. Most research suggests that it appears to always be the same company (or individuals) operating under different names, sometimes simultaneously.

History tells us that this is a case of buyer beware. Many consumers are contacted via cold call (meaning they didn’t sign up to receive information about timeshare sales and a “free” timeshare vacation). Complaints have been filed by those who attended, that the timeshare sales presentation often changes from the 90 minutes promised to 3 or 4 hours, one must sit through in order to receive the free or discounted vacation. In a story we have all heard before, the timeshare vacation often comes with so many caveats that the average person is never able to schedule a holiday.

Anyone who feels that they may have been a victim in a misleading timeshare sales presentation (holiday scheme) at the Holiday Presentation Centre, is urged to contact Consumer Direct for advice. The telephone number is: 08454 04 05 06. Consumer Direct is the UK government-funded telephone and online service offering information on consumer issues. They are funded by the Office of Fair Trading and offered in partnership with Local Authority Trading Standards Services.

Here on The Timeshare Authority, we seem to have recently posted a number of blogs about problems buying timeshare, so it might be a good time to offer a few simple tips to help you take advantage of the great deals in timeshare resales while avoiding the type of missteps that lead to dissatisfaction with your timeshare purchase.

First, be knowledgeable. Learn about points systems, benefits, and maintenance fees at any timeshare resort where you are considering buying property. Read reviews by current owners and visit online discussion boards like the Sell My Timeshare NOW timeshare owners forum.

Second, when you go to closing, use a reliable and knowledgeable timeshare closing company. You want to make sure that you are really getting what you think you are getting, including an estoppel letter from the resort. The best way to do this is by using a timeshare closing company that specializes in timeshare resales transactions.

A good timeshare resales closing company, like TransferMyTimeshare.com, will essentially walk the timeshare buyer and the timeshare seller through the entire closing process, so that neither party is met with surprises. In addition to an estoppel certificate or resort disclosure packet, your timeshare transfer company should prepare necessary transaction documents, establish a timeshare escrow fund, handle recording fees and deed recording (for timeshares in most US states), and provide the timeshare resort with notice that the ownership has changed.

Buy Timeshare Safely

Timeshare and timeshare resales continue to offer the best deals available in vacation accommodations. You can take advantage of these great deals, without becoming a timeshare scam victim or unhappy owner, by taking a little extra time to make sure you know what you are buying, and by dealing only with a reputable timeshare company.

To learn more about avoiding timeshare scams, watch this short YouTube video:

The Timeshare Authority reported yesterday that Sandy Grey, chairman of the Timeshare Consumers’ Association, has been found guilty by a London court of libeling others in the timeshare industry through his website, Crimeshare.

According to the OTE e-News (Organisation for Timeshare in Europe), “Alexander ‘Sandy’ Grey was ordered to pay substantial costs of the legal action, brought by Bob Trotta, founder and chairman of Resort Properties. Mr. Justice Eady ordered that Grey pay Mr. Trotta’s costs in proving his responsibility for publication with £25,000 to be paid within 21 days of the court judgement, made on 28th October.”

Trotta, developer of several timeshare resorts in Tenerife, and other timeshare industry interests in Malta and Italy, is credited with diligently pursuing the facts necessary to expose Grey. The courts described Trotta’s efforts as a “painstaking exercise” to collate substantial witness and expert evidence in order to reveal the truth about Grey. In September 2007, a court in Spain, determined that an earlier version of Crimeshare had also made an unlawful attack on Bob Trotta’s reputation.

Persons who worked with Grey stated that overall, he represented himself as a friend of the consumer, all the while tearing down his competitors in order to enhance his own credibility within the timeshare industry.

When you need reliable information about timeshares, timeshare resales, and timeshare rentals, turn to the vacation ownership experts at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

In Saturday’s The Timeshare Authority, we quoted Sandy Grey as a critic of the new timeshare regulations recently put in place by the European Union. Grey, essentially, was saying that the new timeshare laws are not yet tough enough to protect tourists from themselves. His statement appeared to say less about the laws and more about his lack of confidence in the consumer’s ability to make sound decisions.

Timeshare Industry Critic in Hot Water

The November 24 edition of the OTE e-News (Organisation for Timeshare in Europe) reported that the High Court in London has ruled that Sandy Grey, chairman of the Timeshare Consumers’ Association (TCA), is the man behind Crimeshare, a website found guilty of libeling many reputable individuals and businesses affiliated with the timeshare industry. According to eNews, “From the High Court judgement, it now appears that for a number of years Grey has been responsible for the publication of a web site that contained serious and defamatory allegations about many of the leading brands in the European timeshare industry.”

The OTE’s newsletter went on to explain that the Crimeshare website appeared under five domain names, and included personal attacks against both employees of and the directors of timeshare companies. Additionally, the website published blacklists that included reputable timeshare businesses. Among the 200 or so companies appearing on Crimeshare’s blacklist have been the American Resort Development Association (ARDA); Resort Condominiums International (RCI); and the Organisation for Timeshare in Europe (OTE).

In tomorrow’s The Timeshare Authority, we will look at the role Bob Trotta, well-known pioneer of the timeshare industry in Europe, played in bringing the case against Grey. And remember, to share your timeshare news and talk with other timeshare owners, visit The Timeshare Forum at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

In a blog post called, “They Wouldn’t Have this Problem if They’d Bought Timeshare Resales” which was published last March, we looked at the problems at the Navigator Beach Club timeshare in Dennisport, Massachusetts.

While the timeshare resort was in its construction phase (it currently stands uncompleted, with all work at a standstill) units were sold to buyers as timeshare intervals. People reportedly paid up to $16,000 for what they believed, and what was represented as, “timeshare”. However, the developer, Robert Reposa, failed (according to an investigation by Team 5 Investigates at theBostonchannel.com)to file the necessary paperwork with the State of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts law requires developers to form entities and file deeds. Neither of which was done in the case of the Navigator Beach Club timeshare resort. In the mean time, the owner fell behind on the $2.2 million mortgage and construction, which was scheduled to be completed 2 years ago, fell behind, and finally screeched to a halt.

Last week, a foreclosure deed was filed on the property in the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds. The Massachusetts Attorney General has declined comment on the matter as an active investigation is underway.

Other Options in Massachusetts Timeshare Resorts

Unfortunately, the timeshare buyers at the Navigator Beach Club will probably have to wait this one out in court. We hope this matter is quickly resolved and that all of the people who paid for timeshare at this Massachusetts timeshare resort receive their money back. Nothing will compensate them for the time they must spend in addressing this or the disappointment and stress this matter has, no doubt, caused.

There are many other options in Massachusetts timeshares, and you don’t have to wait for them to be built or wonder if the deal is authentic. You can take this risk out of buying timeshare when you purchase timeshare resales—at completed and operational resorts—directly from timeshare owners. To learn more about the opportunities in timeshare for sale by-owner, visit www.SellMyTimeshareNOW.com or call 1-877-815-4227.

Earlier this week, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett filed lawsuits against Bluegreen Resorts, Bluegreen Corporation, Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited Inc. and Great Vacations Destinations Inc., charging the use of marketing practices that are illegal in the state of Pennsylvania. All four companies are Florida timeshare and vacation companies.

The charges specifically accuse Bluegreen timeshare of marketing vacation packages with aggressive and deceptive timeshare sales presentations and offering airline tickets and other prizes, which the AG’s Office describes as “worthless”. The charges include advertising, real estate, and telemarketing violations.

According to the statement to the press released by Corbett’s office, prospective timeshare buyers were identified in malls, by phone, and at festivals and fairs. Bluegreen timeshare also operates full-time sales facilities in Hershey and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

“Virtually any consumer with a checkbook and a pulse allegedly qualified as a ‘winner’ in these promotions,” according to the Attorney General. “Unsuspecting consumers who believed they were contest winners were actually drawn into a high pressure bait-and-switch campaign designed to push timeshare vacation packages costing thousands of dollars.”

Prizes Promised in Timeshare Scam Not What they Seemed

The routine used was one that is all too familiar. People signed up in a contest to win a prize, such as a car, a vacation, or cash. They were then contacted with the news that they had not won the grand prize but had won a secondary prize, such as free airline tickets. Even people who did not sign up for the contest were sometimes told they were eligible for a prize.

‘Prize winners’ were told they would receive a free meal and free gas when they collected their prize if they attended a 90-minute timeshare sales presentation. Consumers who did attend the timeshare sales presentation found that the 90 minutes often stretched into as much as 5.5 hours. They also found that claiming the prizes they did win was fraught with caveats – receiving the promised airline tickets called for you first to pay for as many as ten nights in a pricey hotel in a limited number of cities. Free gas translated to coupons tied up with many restrictions; and in general, what was touted as free turned out to be ‘free’ but heavily wrapped in red tape.

Other charges involve Bluegreen timeshare’s alleged failure to properly inform consumers of their right to cancel their purchase as well as numerous violations of Pennsylvania’s Do Not Call List. Over 5700 Pennsylvania residents have purchased Bluegreen timeshare at prices that averaged between $20,000 and $40,000. Pennsylvania residents who have had problems with Bluegreen timeshare or any other timeshare company are urged to contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-441-2555 or online at www.attorneygeneral.gov

Criticism of Bluegreen Timeshare Sales Practices, Not of Timeshare Ownership

One last and very important thought about Bluegreen timeshares. These allegations all relate to the actions and practices of timeshare sales. There is not one mention that Bluegreen timeshare is anything less than a great vacation resort, nor do any of the charges relate in any way to problems or dissatisfaction with being an owner of Bluegreen timeshare. You always have an excellent way to bypass the ups and downs of new timeshare sales, by purchasing Bluegreen timeshare on the timeshare resale market where you skip the high pressure sales tactics and deal directly with the current timeshare owner.