A Michigan couple held in a Mexican maximum-security prison for a month over a timeshare dispute have filed suit against a resort, claiming it “weaponized” the Cancun judicial system and coerced them to sign an NDA while armed guards stood watching, court papers show.
Paul and Christy Akeo claim Palace Resorts LLC brought bogus criminal charges to retaliate against them for a since-resolved $100,000 dispute over timeshares — and to get back at Christy for her involvement in a private Facebook group with over 8,000 members, many of whom were alleged victims of the resort’s shady “timeshare tactics,” according to a lawsuit filed by the Akeos on Friday.
The resort began a “secret lawfare campaign” against the couple for disputing 13 credit card charges totaling $116,587 — which the credit card companies refunded the Akeos in 2022, finding their claims valid, explains the suit filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.
Starting in 2016, the couple, both 60, bought timeshares for the Cancun location at “exorbitant prices” as “wholesale customers” and would then resell the bookings to others under agreement with Palace Resorts, the court papers explain.
In exchange for helping the resort profit over $4 million between their stays and the business they brought in through others, the Akeos received “bonus stays” at the resort, the filing explains.
“They were two people who loved to vacation, travel and adventure,” said Lindsay Hull, Christy’s daughter and Paul’s stepdaughter.
“They absolutely loved it, and they loved sharing it with other people,” Hull said of her parents’ motivation for reselling bookings.
But the Akeos’ arrangement with the resort went sour by March 2022, after the terms of the agreement changed just four months earlier in November 2021, the court papers claim.
The resort sent the couple a cease-and-desist letter, alleging they “breached their membership,” the filing claims. The resort eventually reneged on bookings the Akeos helped broker for others, prompting the pair to dispute charges with the credit card companies on the grounds that the “product or services had not been received,” the filing alleges.
Instead, the resort pressed charges by falsely accusing the couple of “fraudulently” canceling the credit card transactions by claiming they were unknown charges, the filing explains.
“The Akeos never told the credit companies that they did not recognize the charges or that the charges were fraudulent,” the suit claims.
On March 4, the travel-loving duo were stopped by Mexican customs at the beginning of a trip and were immediately cuffed and thrown into the notorious CERESCO prison for 30 days — housed with “violent criminals” in deplorable conditions, the court documents claim.
“The arrest came as a complete surprise to the Akeos,” and would kick off a month of hell for the pair, the suit alleges.
“They were scared, terrified, and frightened that they may never go home again,” the suit claims, noting the Akeos were told they’d have to remain there for at least six months during an investigation and faced up to six years if convicted.
Their “captivity” made national headlines and prompted President Trump to intervene and send Congressman Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) to Mexico to advocate for their return.
Christy and Paul — a 21-year Navy veteran and mechanical engineer with the Michigan State Police — were kept apart in cells alongside members of Mexican cartels, murderers and rapists in squalid conditions inside the decrepit lockup, the court papers allege.
For two weeks, Christy was housed in a cell with a toilet that didn’t flush. And on Paul’s first night behind bars, he was kept with 35 other men as “the guards had pepper-sprayed the fan in Paul’s room to calm down agitated prisoners,” the filing claims.
“They were in very, very traumatic conditions,” Hull told The Post.
She said her mom lost 25 pounds in her first two weeks there because she was provided with food that had fish in it, despite her notifying the facility of her fish allergy.
Hull, 29, said she only got to speak to her mom between two and five minutes a day — and that was after the first three days of Christy’s detainment, when there was “absolutely no communication with them,” she explained.
The brief conversations were all Hull had as she and her brother fought 18 to 20 hours a day to bring national awareness to her mom’s case in their effort to mobilize the government to get her and Paul back, Hull explained.
The cells they stayed in were hot without ventilation and were smeared with feces and urine, as there was no running water for the showers or toilets, the daughter said. And there were cockroaches and rodents “roaming around,” she added.
Finally, a month later, the couple were hauled into a Cancun court and told by their lawyer and Barrett that the only way the Mexican prosecutors would drop the case against them was if they signed a settlement deal that included a non-disclosure agreement, the filing alleges.
The agreement included terms that the Akeos close down the Facebook page of disgruntled customers, pay the resort a sum of money, keep quiet about their ordeal and arbitrate any further dispute in the International Court of Arbitration in Canada.
Hull said she and her brother reached out to the founder of the Facebook page, whom they didn’t know, and pleaded for the group to be closed down so her parents could return.
The Akeos claim the agreement isn’t valid because they made it under “duress,” including being forced to sign documents while guards armed with machine guns stood over them, the filing claims.
The resort started an arbitration case in the Vancouver court, but the Akeos want a judge to invalidate any requirement for the case to be fought behind closed doors in the arbitration, since they were coerced into signing the agreement, the court papers claim.
“It’s not fair that my parents are not able to speak about their story,” Hull said of the NDA her parents signed. “They deserve to advocate for themselves.
“They were under the impression that they would never be released from prison if they did not sign this NDA.”
The Akeos are seeking unspecified damages for claims of defamation, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, duress and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“They deserve justice for what they went through,” Hull said. “When you’re dealing with companies of this size, they need to be held accountable.”
Hull said her parents haven’t been the same since their harrowing stint in prison, with both now suffering from anxiety and fear for which they are seeking treatment.
David Orta, a lawyer for the resort, said his client “rejects all claims” and said it plans to “defend against them and otherwise take appropriate legal action to enforce the Palace Company’s rights.”
“The Akeos and the Palace Company fully resolved their disputes earlier this year,” the lawyer said, apparantly referring to the papers they signed in Cancun.
“Mr. and Mrs. Akeo have unfortunately proceeded with additional litigation against the Palace Company and affiliated entities and individuals in violation of the parties’ resolution of their disputes.”
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