Attorney general Bill McCollum sues Broward timeshare business

Attorney General Bill McCollum announced that his  office has sued a Broward County company alleging the company and its  owner promised refunds to timeshare resale customers, but after collecting  up-front fees never provided any money to consumers. JB’s Omega Tours  Corporation, which does business as Recovery Resources, and owner Joshua  Baillie are named in the lawsuit. The Attorney General’s Office was also  granted an injunction today prohibiting the company from falsely  representing an association with the office.

An employee of JB’s Omega Tours Corporation was previously employed by  Vacation Property Trader Incorporated (VPTI), a timeshare resale company  that was investigated by the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division  in January 2009 for potentially unfair business practices. VPTI entered  into an agreement with the Attorney General’s Office last May resolving  the allegations of fraudulent activity. The company has since continued  cooperating with the office to identify consumer protection issues in the  timeshare resale industry.

After leaving VPTI, the employee allegedly provided Baillie with a contact  list of VPTI’s customers, and Baillie began telemarketing to those who  were seeking refunds from VPTI. Working under the company name of Recovery  Resources, Baillie allegedly charged consumers $200-$500 in up-front fees,  promising to help them reclaim their money. According to the Attorney  General’s lawsuit, Recovery Resources also claimed to be working with the  Attorney General’s Office to better gain the trust of its victims.

Consumers reported that after they made payments to Baillie, they were not  able to contact the company nor did they receive any of the promised  funds.

In addition to the injunction obtained today, the Attorney General’s  Office is seeking consumer restitution and ultimately a permanent  injunction prohibiting Recovery Resources and Joshua Baillie from engaging  in similar business practices.

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Posted by Andrea Freygang on Feb 18 2010. Filed under Broward County, Crime, Ethics in Broward, Fort Lauderdale, Local news, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry