$10 Million Mexico-Based Timeshare Telemarketing Scheme: Two Plead Guilty in New Orleans

What happened

On June 17, 2020, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced guilty pleas by Jesus Adrian Ledesma Bernal, also known as "JSS," 31, and Julio Cesar Rivera Rojas, also known as "JCP," 32. Both are residents and citizens of Mexico. They pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.

The scheme

According to the factual basis and superseding bill of information, from at least January 1, 2016:

• Conspirators made unsolicited phone calls to owners of resort timeshares in the United States, Canada and South America.
• They falsely claimed a buyer existed and solicited money to facilitate the sale.
• Owners signed agreements to sell and paid alleged "closing costs" by wire from U.S. banks to Mexican banks.
• There were no buyers. No closings occurred. No timeshares were resold. The conspirators kept the advance fees.

Of the U.S. victims, 40 were age 60 and older. The total estimated loss was at least $10,000,000.

The operation used the names Planet Travel and Newport International Investments, and at other times many others, including All American Real Estate, Closing Source LLC, Equity Closing Services Group, Peach Title, Sandia Title and World Travelers, Inc. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the DOJ seized all of the associated website domains.

The defendants' roles

• Rojas was an accountant with the organization. He admitted awareness of victim losses of at least $4 million.
• Bernal was a telemarketer. He admitted responsibility for victim losses of $127,000.

Each faced a maximum of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release. The FBI investigated.

Why it matters

Three points stand out. First, the business names were designed to sound like title and closing companies. Fraudsters borrow the vocabulary of real estate closings because it signals legitimacy. Second, the organization's accountant was prosecuted alongside a caller. Back-office roles are not insulated. Third, domain seizures are now a routine part of these cases.

Timeshare owners in the United States are also protected by the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), which prohibits misrepresentations about material aspects of an offer, and many states restrict up-front fees for timeshare resale services.

Practical steps

• Legitimate resale and closing companies: use verifiable licensing and escrow arrangements.
• Never collect "closing costs" before a real buyer and a real closing exist.
• Monitor for impersonation of your company name by lookalike title or closing entities.
• Consumers: verify any buyer and title company independently before wiring funds.