West Palm Beach Timeshare Boiler Room Manager Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges

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Wifredo A. Ferrer, United StatesAttorney for the Southern District of Florida; and John V. Gillies, SpecialAgent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office,announced that Michael Ferrari, 27, of West Palm Beach, pled guilty yesterdayafternoon to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, UnitedStates Code, Section 1349. Ferrari’s sentencing is scheduled for July 30, 2012.
According to the criminal informationand plea documents filed with the court, Ferrari and his co-conspiratorsengaged in a scheme to defraud timeshare owners throughout the United Statesand Canada. From July 2009 through February 2010, telemarketers contacted morethan 2,000 victims and collected more than $3.3 million in advance fees fortimeshare marketing and sales services, which were never provided. Thetelemarketers, operating under the name International Resort Solutions LLC(IRS), solicited clients through at least six boiler rooms, each of which waslocated in Palm Beach County. The telemarketers would make false and misleadingrepresentations to the timeshare owners regarding IRS’s services. Among thefalse representations, the telemarketers claimed that IRS had buyers for theirtimeshares, that IRS had closing scheduled for their timeshares, and that IRSwould actively market their timeshares to potential buyers.
Ferrari was a manager of one of the IRSboiler rooms and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of theboiler room and supervising the telemarketers. Earlier this month, six otherIRS boiler room managers, Jeffrey Fields, Thomas Ford, Bryan Bergeron, JoshuaHolmes, Colin Van Nest Talmage, and Joseph Eichenlaub, also pled guilty toconspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with this case. All of thesedefendants are facing a maximum term of imprisonment of up to 20 years,followed by up to three years of supervised release.
Three other defendants, MichaelFranzenburg, Kenneth Foote, Jr., and Joseph Grizzanti were charged in aseparate information in connection with the IRS fraud. Franzenburg was theowner of IRS and Foote and Grizzanti were managers of an IRS boiler room. Footeand Grizzanti were recently sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and fiveyears’ imprisonment, respectively.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigativeefforts of the FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. AttorneyAdrienne Rabinowitz.