Lawyer for Michigan couple held in Mexican prison says resort company is at fault

Yahoo

28-03-2025

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A Michigan couple remains behind bars in a Mexican prison, accused of breaching a timeshare contract — but their lawyer said the resort that filed the criminal complaint against them breached the contract first.
Paul and Christy Akeo have reportedly been charged with defrauding Palace Elite, a subsidiary of the Palace Company, out of more than $110,000. They signed a timeshare contract with the resort in Nov. 2021 to purchase a membership with the hotel, but are accused of breaching its terms by cancelling the charges, leading to their arrest at a Cancún airport on March 4.
Their children, Lindsey Hull and Michael Lemke, have repeatedly denied these accusations, telling Nexstar's WLNS that American Express sided with the couple in the dispute.
'Every second of every day, we are concerned for their safety, especially with the lack of communication,' said Hull. 'The idea that they're sitting in a maximum-security prison over a time-share dispute at best is unacceptable.'
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John Manly, the family's attorney, provided some further insight into the situation, alleging that the Akeos did indeed sign up for a timeshare, but were taken advantage of.
'What happened was they got lured into this timeshare, and initially it was some reasonable amount a month, and then they, according to what we've been told, they took away their benefits and essentially made them increase their monthly contribution to $6,200 a month,' said Manly.
According to Manly, it was the resort company that actually breached the contract.
'They were supposed to be able to sell weeks of their timeshare so people could use them, and that interests Palace because they get to sell to more people,' said Manly. 'What began to occur is Palace just began to cancel the reservations. So essentially, they're paying $6,200 a month for which anybody who's middle-class or retired is a lot of money, not allowing them to sell their weeks that they have promised and essentially defaulted or breached, rather, the contract.'
Earlier this week, the Palace Company issued a statement which further alleged that the Akeos not only canceled their credit card payments 'fraudulently,' but 'encouraged' others to do so, as well.
The company did not go into detail about its accusations.
'The Palace Company subsidiary, Palace Elite, filed a criminal complaint with Mexican authorities after Paul and Christy Akeo fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same,' reads the statement. 'Mexican prosecutors reviewed the evidence and, following failed attempts to serve notice, obtained a court-approved arrest warrant.
'INTERPOL validated the case and issued a red notice, leading to the Akeos' detention at Cancún Airport on March 4, 2025. A judge has since ruled there is sufficient cause for the case to proceed to trial and ordered the preventive detention of the Akeos.'
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The couple's son, Michael Lemke, told WLNS that a Mexican judge has given Palace Resorts six months to gather evidence. He's concerned this could mean that the Akeos might be detained in Mexico for a long time.
'The situation is incredibly unfortunate over something that is a contract dispute that we felt, I should say it seemed like was done and over with,' said Lemke. 'The big thing for us is just bringing them home.'
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