Mike Kelly Arrested in Florida

[Steve]

Interesting

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...ck=1&cset=true

[Michael F.]

Gotta register to read it. And I ain't gonna :lol:

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Michael F.

Gotta register to read it. And I ain't gonna :lol:

I didnt have to register, just got straight through, in any case here it is

Feds accuse man of taking $400 million in time-share scam

Associated Press
Published December 28, 2006, 7:04 AM CST

CHICAGO -- FBI agents have arrested a man on charges that he used time share leases in Mexico to bilk real estate investors, including several in Illinois, out of $400 million.

Michael E. Kelly, 57, allegedly sold "universal leases" on time share properties and promised buyers an 11 percent returns on their investments, according to a criminal complaint released Wednesday.

Kelly, of Cancun, was arrested Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. He is in custody in Florida and will be brought to Chicago to face federal mail fraud charges, officials said.

It is not immediately clear who Kelly's lawyer is.

Authorities allege that he told investors that a third-party company would rent their time shares. He also allegedly guaranteed high returns even if the properties weren't rented.

But Kelly owned the third-party company and paid out the returns to investors himself, authorities allege. Eventually he stopped making payments and instead spent investors' money on a lavish lifestyle that included a private plane and a large yacht, officials said.

He allegedly netted $400 million from the late '90s to 2004.

Jennifer French, a financial institutions fraud special agent for the FBI, said investors didn't see the red flags in the deal until it was too late.

"Many of these folks eventually said it was just too good to be true, but the victims were diverse," French said. "Some of these people were sophisticated investors."

[Michael F.]

More on the subject here:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff56487.htm

[Michael F.]

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff122198.htm

[Michael F.]

http://www.ccsd.cc.state.az.us/enfor.../sept18-03.pdf

http://www.ccsd.cc.state.az.us/news_...6/mar07-06.pdf

[Sparkey]

Good to see Steve reading the Chicago Tribune. Next he'll be applying for Oprah tickets.

[Drewbert]

There's gonna be clausurada stickers popping up all over the place.

Avanti
Puerto Cancun
Avalon
The City
Beach Club
Pok Ta Pok golf course

Did I miss anything?

The guys that own DadyO's and the other one will be partying like it's 1999.

[Drewbert]

On the front page at Novedades right now.

http://www.novenet.com.mx/portada.ph...29&m=12&y=2006

Award for article with most info goes to Per Este...

http://www.poresto.net/v06/index.php...5993&Itemid=28

and more here

http://www.novenet.com.mx/seccion.ph...29&m=12&y=2006

[RiverGirl]

I don't know much about the man but I have Googled his name a few times. And I was under the impression that the sheer number of indictments against him in the US would have prevented him from actually traveling there. I guess I was wrong about that, or perhaps he was pushing his luck.

I'm very curious what will happen to Puerto Cancun now. I've heard that things there are already behind schedule and that there's been some mis-use of funds with that project also. Who knows what's real, he's something of a local icon which means that there are always rumors flying around about him.