CAMDEN—Three people from southern New
Jersey are being arraigned today on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and
wire fraud, mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering in a
$2.6 million time share mortgage fraud, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman
announced.
Ashley Lacerda, 32, of Egg Harbor
Township, New Jersey; Francis Santore, 52, of Northfield, New Jersey; and Brian
Corley, 27, of Egg Harbor, New Jersey, are scheduled to appear before U.S.
District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court to be arraigned. Four
more defendants also charged in the indictment: Adam Lacerda, 28, of Egg Harbor
Township, New Jersey; Steven Cox, 48, of Ventnor City, New Jersey; Alfred
Giordano, of Hurry County, South Carolina; and Joseph Diventi, 32, of Somers
Point, New Jersey, and they are scheduled to be arraigned before Judge Hillman
on May 21 at 12:15 p.m.
The seven people listed above and nine
others were arrested on April 17, 2012 on a complaint that charged them with
conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Additional substantive counts of mail
fraud and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering were added when
they were charged by an indictment returned by a federal grand jury May 3,
2012.
The nine other defendants—Ian Resnick,
37, of Absecon, New Jeresy; Ryan E. Bird, 34, of Clementon, New Jersey;
Catherine Bannigan, 57, of Egg Harbor Township; Vincent Giordano, 27, of
Margate, New Jersey; Joseph Saxon, 38, of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Aimee
Allen, of Little River, South Carolina; Genevieve Manzoni, 46, of Lake Worth,
Florida; Eric Reilly, 33, of Galloway, New Jersey; and Eric K. Reiff, 40, of
Williamsburg, Virginia—remain under the charge in the complaint.
According to documents filed in this
case and statements made in court:
In July 2010, law enforcement officers
began investigating The Vacation Ownership Group, (a/k/a VO Group LLC). The
investigation revealed that from at least March 2009 and to September 1, 2011,
the defendants, through the VO Group, participated in a fraudulent scheme in
which representatives of the VO Group, often using false identities, telephoned
owners of timeshare vacation properties purchased from Flagship Resort
Development, Wyndham Vacation Resorts Inc., and other timeshare developers.
They convinced the owners in some cases to submit money to the VO Group,
purportedly to pay off the owners’ “mortgages” on their timeshares. The VO
Group claimed that the timeshare owner could pay off the mortgage balance at a
substantially reduced amount—often by as much as 50 percent the amount of the
owner’s original mortgage—by mailing payment to the VO Group at a post office
box in Pleasantville, New Jersey. The VO Group representatives also got
timeshare owners to send the VO Group money, purportedly to have timeshares
cancelled or sold. After receipt of payments for the VO Group’s “service,” the
conspirators caused those payments to be deposited into a bank account in the
name of the VO Group. Rather than paying off the timeshare owner’s mortgage,
cancelling the owner’s timeshare, or selling the timeshare, the conspirators
used the timeshare owner’s money for their personal use.
The investigation also revealed that in
an attempt to cover up the scheme, the conspirators in most cases engaged in a
“bait and switch” tactic by purchasing an additional timeshare in the victim’s
name without the victim’s knowledge. The victim purportedly had assented to the
purchase based on documents the VO Group previously emailed to the victim for
signature even though the victim had been led to believe he or she was simply
paying off the original timeshare mortgage.
During the course of the investigation,
law enforcement officers interviewed approximately 225 victims of the
conspirators’ scheme identified to date. Many of the victims are elderly. Law
enforcement has determined that the conspirators defrauded the victims of more
than $2.6 million.
Since the arrests, the VO Group changed
its name to VO Financial Corp.
The investigation also revealed that
Adam Lacerda, Ashley Lacerda, and Brian Corley sought and received unemployment
compensation during the time they were working at the VO Group. The indictment
charges them with mail fraud in connection with this related scheme.
The mail and wire fraud conspiracy
charge, and mail and wire fraud charges each carry a maximum potential penalty
of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy to commit money
laundering charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and
a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special
agents from the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of
Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward 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 ongoing investigation. He also
thanked the New Jersey Department of Labor, Benefit Payment Control Unit for
their assistance.
The government is represented by
Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Stephen Stigall and Alyson M. Oswald of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
Anyone who believes they are a victim of
the fraud should contact the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency at
609-677-6400.
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