TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #96 Nov/Dec, 2007

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Issue #96
Nov/Dec, 2007

Resale Telemarketers Arrested in Florida
In two separate actions within days of each other, Florida authorities have arrested three
men for running unregistered telemarketing operations which had targeted timeshare owners
who wanted to sell their timeshares. James Lucas Ezell and Robert Lee Vaughan of Redington
Shores, FL, are facing charges of running an unregistered telemarketing operation following a
series of complaints filed in Florida and New Mexico.
Ezell and Vaughan and their associates were operating an unregistered telemarketing business which contacted
timeshare owners to sell them advertising for the sale of their timeshare properties. According to the Division of
Consumer Services, the business ap- ers by telephone to have them pay
plied for a telemarketing license but Premier Timeshare Vacations to adwas issued a denial letter for deficien- vertise their timeshares for sale.
cies in its application, including the fact
The Florida Division of Consumer
that there were numerous complaints Services had previously issued a
on file with the Attorney General’s cease and desist order, directing
Office of Florida and New Mexico Friedman to stop telemarketing opinvolving questionable activities con- erations until he properly registered
ducted by this business.
the business with the department.
At the same time as the arrests,
Subsequently,. investigators with
their business, U.S. Properties List- the Division of Consumer Services
Scott Andrew Friedman
ings LLC, was shut down by the Di- and Office of Agricultural Law Envision of Consumer Services with the forcement (which regulates telemarIn this issue......
issuance of a cease and desist order. keting in Florida) conducted a follow
In “Exchange Place,” several
A few days later, Florida Agricul- up inspection and determined that the
owners vent frustrations
ture and Consumer Services Com- business was conducting telemarketmissioner Charles H. Bronson an- ing activities in violation of the cease
Owners tell about best
nounced the arrest of Scott Andrew and desist order, and employing unexchange - on a boat
Friedman, 37, on charges of registered sales people. That led to
Three Points presentations
telemarketing without a license and Friedman’s arrest.
in two weeks
hiring unregistered sales people, both
The businesses of both U.S.
Reviews of resorts in HI, TX,
third-degree felonies.
Properties Listings LLC and Premier
According to investigators, Timeshare Vacations, Inc. were apWA, IN, CA, UT, NV, MEX
Friedman was the owner and presi- parently similar to the upfront fee scam
Articles on getting bumped,
dent of Premier Timeshare Vacations operations described at length in an
II cancellation policy
Inc. located at 14 18th Street South, article in TimeSharing Today’s Sep/
Letters to Editor
St. Petersburg, which solicited own- Oct, 2007 issue.