Former Employee of Timeshare Consulting Firm Pleads Guilty to Fraud Conspiracy
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 07, 2013 |
CAMDEN, NJ—A former employee of The Vacation Ownership Group LLC admitted today to conspiring to defraud owners of timeshare properties, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Aimee Allen, 27, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Allen entered her guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
The Vacation Ownership Group, a/k/a VO Group LLC (the “VO Group”), purported to offer owners of timeshares consulting services, including timeshare cancellation services. In June 2010, Allen started working at the VO Group and was trained by VO Group managers to call customers using prepared scripts. Allen would call customers and give them the false impression that she was working for a bank or lending institution. Allen then would falsely represent that the VO Group could pay off the customers’ timeshares or have their timeshares cancelled. Allen also served as a “reference” for other VO Group employees by posing as a satisfied customer to persuade a new customer to send the VO Group money. After hearing Allen’s false representations, some customers sent checks to the VO Group. Allen admitted to causing over $200,000 in losses.
On January 23, 2013, 10 other individuals who worked at the VO Group were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and other charges. Those charges are pending before Judge Hillman.
The mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge to which Allen pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense. Sentencing is currently scheduled for June 14, 2013.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents from the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez in Newark; and special agents from the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert Panella, New York Region, for their roles in the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alyson M. Oswald and R. David Walk, Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.