Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich today
sentenced Martin Steele (46, St. Petersburg) to seven years and five months in
prison for his role in a telemarketing fraud scam. As part of his sentence, the
court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $75,000, the proceeds of
the wire fraud conspiracy. The court also directed that Steele pay a total of
$1,162,142.68 to the scheme’s victims.
According to court records, from 2016 through at least 2018,
Steele conspired with others to extract money from victims throughout the
United States who owned timeshare properties or other pieces of land they
desired to sell. Steele and other conspirators placed telephone calls to these
victims; impersonated attorneys, real estate officers, and other professionals;
and misled those timeshare owners to believe the conspirators had buyers for
the victims’ timeshares and other property. The conspirators further advised
the victims that the timeshare and property sales could be consummated if the
victims made one or more advanced payments to the conspirators for various fees
purportedly associated with the sales, such as closing costs, courier services,
title searches, transfer fees, and legal fees. Once the victims agreed to pay
the bogus fees, the conspirators directed the victims to send money via wire
transfers to the defendant or another conspirator, who then withdrew the cash
and divided it among the conspirators according to each conspirator’s role in
the fraudulent transaction. The conspirators often repeatedly contacted the
victims, fraudulently advised them that additional fees were needed in order to
complete the sales of their respective timeshares, and continued to dupe them
into sending bogus advanced fees until the victims either ran out of money or
became aware of the scam.
Several related defendants have pleaded guilty to charges
related to this timeshare scheme. Gary Kinard and Mark Boring were sentenced to
7 years and 11 months in federal prison, and 7 years in federal prison,
respectively, for wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft for their
roles in the scheme. David Bell was sentenced to 27 months in prison for money
laundering conspiracy relating to his role in the scheme. Troy Cater and
Richard Bell have each pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and are
awaiting sentencing.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the St. Petersburg Police Department, and the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney
Rachel K. Jones.
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