upleMajor new details have surfaced in the arrest of an American couple thrown into jail over a timeshare dispute. The two were arrested in Cancun. They are currently being held in a maximum-security prison.
According to Mexican authorities, they arrested the couple on fraud charges, claiming they "publicly encouraged others to do the same."
Authorities arrested Christy and Paul Akeo on March 4 at customs. The couple's children claim that the couple disputed charges on their American Express credit card over a time share. Authorities claim they intentionally committed fraud.
"Paul and Christy Akeo fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges. And publicly encouraged others to do the same," a spokesperson for the Palace Company told ABC News in a statement.
According to a press release by the Attorney General's Office of Quintana Roo, Christy "spread the word on Facebook about how they committed the fraud against the hotel chain." Authorities have charged them with defrauding a time share company at a resort in Cancun. They disputed charges totaling $117,000.
The couple apparently disputed the charges after claiming the resort broke their contract and didn't give them promised rates. The co had made "a total of 1,570 bookings" since 2016. They also allegedly rented out their room on social media.
"They were found to have breached their contract by promoting, for profit and/or commercial purposes, preferential rates and various benefits via social media which consequently led to the withdrawal of supplementary benefits initially included in their contract," the Palace Company said in a separate statement.
Time Share Dispute
The couple was arrested after Christy made a post about the time share on social media.
"Anyone who is trying to get out of their membership and is hesitant. If you need help, please let me know,' she reportedly wrote in one post. "Report any and all credit card you used for monthly payments as lost or stolen... also any cards you may have used at resort for incidentals, gift shop purchases etc."
She also allegedly wrote, "Then just quit making your monthly payments. Palace will harass you for a few months by email, phone calls and even WhatsApp, but it's very important not to respond to any of these. It takes about 3-4 months and then they will stop."
However, their attorney, John Manley, claims that the time share practiced predatory entrapment.
"Initially it was some reasonable amount a month, and then they, according to what we've been told, they took away their benefits and essentially made them increase their monthly contribution to $6,200 a month," Manly said. "But in exchange for that, they were supposed to be able to sell weeks of their timeshare so people could use them, and that interests Palace because they get to sell to more people."
He continued, "What began to occur is Palace just began to cancel the reservations. So essentially, they're paying $6,200 a month for which anybody who's middle class or retired is a lot of money, not allowing them to sell their weeks that they have promised and essentially defaulted or breached, rather, the contract."
