Two Men Sentenced in Timeshare Fraud Scheme

Two former employees of The Vacation Ownership Group LLC were sentenced to prison terms for conspiring to defraud owners of timeshare properties, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced Friday afternoon.

Alfred Giordano, a/k/a “Alex Jordan,” 36, of Belmar, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Francis Santore, a/k/a “Frank Martin,” 56, of Northfield, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Both defendants previously pleaded guilty to informations charging them with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.

They were also sentenced to three years supervised release. Restitution will be determined at a hearing to be scheduled.

They were among 11 New Jersey residents arrested in 2012 in a $2.4 million mail fraud scheme involving timeshare mortgages.

The Vacation Ownership Group, a/k/a VO Group LLC (VO Group), purported to offer consulting services to owners of timeshares, including timeshare cancellation services, according to documents filed in the case and statements made in court.

Giordano started working at the VO Group in January of 2010. He was trained by Adam Lacerda to call customers using prepared scripts.

Giordano would call customers and give them the false impression that he was working for a bank or lending institution and that he had the customer’s “complaint file” in front of him.

After hearing Giordano’s false representations, some customers sent checks to the VO Group. Giordano admitted to causing over $120,000 in losses.

Giordano also admitted to devising a separate scheme to defraud the New Jersey Department of Labor by collecting unemployment compensation benefits while working at the VO Group.

Giordano admitted to applying for and collecting $13,676 in unemployment compensation benefits to which he was not entitled.

Santore began working at the VO Group in October of the same year. He was trained by Lacerda to lie to customers using prepared scripts.

Santore admitted that he would give customers the false impression that he was working for a bank or lending institution.

He also admitted that he allowed customers to continue operating under the false impression given by his co-workers that the VO Group had the customer’s “complaint file” from a timeshare resort developer in front of them. Santore admitted that he regularly lied to customers in order to perpetrate the scam.

Some of those customers then sent checks to the VO Group.

Santore admitted that he falsely told a customer that if the customer paid $8,562 to the VO Group, the group would eliminate the customer’s approximately $18,000 mortgage debt with a timeshare developer.

Santore admitted causing more than $70,000 in losses.

Santore also devised a separate scheme to defraud the California unemployment system by collecting $16,200 in unemployment compensation benefits while working at the VO Group.

Lacerda was previously sentenced to 27 years in prison after he was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, nine counts of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud following a seven-week trial.

Lacerda’s wife, 35-year-old Ashley Lacerda, was convicted in the same trial. She served as the company’s vice president and chief operating officer, and was convicted of sending fraudulent contracts to customers.

The other New Jersey residents who were charged in the scheme included: Steven Cox, 48, of Ventnor; Ryan Bird, 34, of Clementon; Francis Santore, 52, of Northfield; Brian Corley, 27, of Egg Harbor City; Catherine Bannigan, 57, of Egg Harbor Township; Joseph Diventi, 32, of Somers Point; Vincent Giordano, 21, of Margate; and Galloway resident Eric Reilly, who was previously sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the scheme.