UPDATED: Travel Company Scammers Ordered to Pay $200K Restitution

The owners and former employees of Plymouth and Methuen travel companies were ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution for selling vacation club memberships with false benefits on Thursday.

The travel companies Only Way 2 Go Travel of Plymouth and Fantasia Travel Group of Methuen allegedly deceived consumers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

“These defendants colluded to persuade consumers to overpay thousands of dollars for vacation club memberships through a misleading marketing and sales scheme,” Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a press release.

The defendants allegedly lured consumers by falsely promising prizes and gifts of airline travel, weekend getaways, and rebate cards, according to the Attorney General press release from July 2010.

The owner of the Only Way 2 Go and Fantasia Travel companies, Charles R. Caliri, was allegedly responsible for organizing the deceptive vacation club sales scheme.

Richard S. Cardillo and Richard Ciavola, the general managers of Only Way 2 Go were charged for orchestrating the sales scheme by managing the business’ operations.

Mandred Henry and Joseph S. Lento were also involved in the sales process as sales managers or agents.

Each defendant was permanently banned from marketing or selling vacation club memberships in Massachusetts.

“These final judgments will permanently prohibit these entities from conducting this type of business in Massachusetts,” Coakley said.

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Editor’s Note: Patch originally wrote that another suspect was banned from marketing or selling vacation club memberships in Massachusetts. The man was released from this case with the Commonwealth by Associate Justice Mary K. Ames, Superior Court on April 29, 2014 via summary judgment.