Welcome to the start of another week with After Inside Timeshare, today we bring you the final Episode of “Exposed: The Truth Behind Silverpoint“, this is a story of epic proportions, worthy of a Hollywood Blockbuster movie. It is full of behind-the-scenes financial manipulation and the moving of millions of euros from one account to another in order to hide and save the Trotta family fortune. It is a story of a family at war with itself wracked with greed, with the wife Ragni Trotta being left out of the will. All this is at the expense of the hundreds of consumers who have purchased their products over the years and are now set to lose everything.
Silverpoint and before them Resort Properties (same company) duped consumers into purchasing “packs” of weeks as investments, with the promise of rental income and a resale program after two years with a substantial profit to be made on these resales. But as we already know, there was no resale program, just more lies to get the unsuspecting consumer to upgrade and purchase even more to secure the “investments” they have already paid for.
We have seen this progress to the Company Participation Scheme, which is exactly the same as the original “investment weeks” apart from the fact the “apartments” are now registered as Spanish SL (limited) companies. The promise is the same, an annual income from rentals and then the prospect of selling the “shares” at a later date.
We already know that very little rental income had been paid to “investors” for the year 2018, as there was no money to pay out these rental dividends. One “investor” supplied the letter below with the excuses as to why, the letter is signed by Diana Aitchison, a long-serving employee of Trotta in various capacities, she is also listed as the Administrator to many of the apartments registered as “companies”. What had been paid out more than likely came from new “investors” purchasing into the scheme, a classic take from Peter to pay Paul, or it could be called a Ponzi scheme.
Bob Trotta and Kwang Boon Sim
As we have already seen from the previous articles, vast amounts of money have been moved around the numerous companies set up by Bob Trotta and Kwang Boon Sim in the guise of “intercompany loans”, and tax evasion and then spirited away into the Trotta family fortune. All at the expense of you the consumer.
It is a very interesting fact that most of the local staff that worked in various companies around the world were not even aware of how the group was structured, or even how the finances operated. It is also a fact that had the bank and the family done the right thing by their loyal team of workers and their customers most would have been quite happy. Clients would have had good products and resorts with Doug Campbell, his wife Jennifer Campbell, Ragni Trotta and Erin Trotta Westfall could have enjoyed a wonderful future.
The Bank could most likely close the trust, distributing the wealth to the family… What they have not bargained for was the ineptitude and bully tactics of Alex Lawson. It appears that Alex Lawson is so eager to prove himself to his Alvarez colleagues that he is marauding around the world using aggressive tactics against everyone in his path.
Alex Lawson
He has a complete lack of compassion and with a blinkered outlook on how his decisions affect circumstances elsewhere in the group, he is creating a trail of destruction and is now coming into full view of claims companies and legal teams all over the world.
It is now very likely the end result of the whole program will be Alvarez and Marsal earning a fortune in fees, the Trotta family ending up with nothing along with the prospect of ending up in jail, the bank losing their license with the possibility of seeing its team members facing charges and the hundreds of consumers losing everything they have purchased which could run into millions of pounds.
Alvarez and Marsal Logo
This is by no means the end of the sorry tale, we will have to wait until the Court Appointed Administrator can complete his task, and that will not be any time soon. At the time of writing the original version, we had heard from several members who have travelled to Tenerife to take their holidays at The Paramount – Club Paradiso. They told us of not being able to gain admittance to the resort, being moved to other locations and in some cases being charged to stay. They also told us at the time they had seen staff members crying as they were unable to do anything for them and know they are unlikely to get paid. The fallout of the “liquidation” plan being put into action by Alex Lawson is already taking its toll!
As and when further information is available on the liquidation of Silverpoint and all the associated companies, AIT will bring you the news. It is unlikely that any substantial news will be forthcoming in the near future, there is still a long way to go before any investigation is completed and we will get a clearer picture of what has been called the biggest fraud in European timeshare history.
Next week AIT will be taking a look at the Company Participation Scheme in a little more detail, and you will see what a con it really is.
On Wednesday we will be publishing some news regarding MacDonald Resorts, who as we already know have increased maintenance fees by a whopping 30% for one resort and 40% at their Doña Lola Resort on the Costa del Sol, at present we do not know what increase has been placed on their other resorts. What we can tell you now is the financial report does not look good.
We hope you all had a great weekend, Baby Dog had a full weekend of long walks and is now refusing to move.
