Consulting Service Admits Defrauding Property Owners

Allison Tussey —  February 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

Eric Reilly, 34, Galloway, New Jersey, a former employee of The Vacation Ownership Group LLC, admitted to conspiring to defraud owners of timeshare properties.

The defendant pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Reilly entered his 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, purported to offer owners of timeshares consulting services, including timeshare cancellation services. In September 2010, Reilly started working at the VO Group and was trained by VO Group managers to call customers using a prepared script and regularly lie to customers. Reilly would call customers and falsely state that he was calling in response to a complaint they had made to timeshare developers and lenders. He gave customers the false impression that he was working for Wyndham Vacation Resorts, a developer of timeshare resorts.

Reilly then would falsely represent that the VO Group could pay off the customers’ timeshares or have their timeshares cancelled. Reilly falsely told some customers that their credit would not be damaged if they stopped paying for their timeshares. Reilly gave some customers “references” who were actually VO Group employees posing as satisfied customers. After hearing Reilly‘s false representations, some customers sent checks to the VO Group, including one customer who sent the VO Group a $31,385 check. Reilly admitted to causing more than $70,000 in losses.

Other former members of the VO Group who were charged in a superseding indictment on January 23, 2013, will be arraigned before Judge Hillman.

The mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge to which Reilly pleaded guilty is punishable by 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 scheduled for May 17, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced the guilty plea.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents from the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of 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 the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

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.

Allison Tussey

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