A Mexican resort claims the Michigan couple who was arrested in Cancun and thrown into a foreign maximum security prison on fraud charges “publicly encouraged others to do the same.”
Christy and Paul Akeo, both 60, have been locked up and held without bond in Mexico since after they were arrested on outstanding criminal fraud charges while going through customs on March 4.
The couple’s children have claimed they were arrested as “retaliation” for challenging charges made on their American Express credit card by the Palace Company.
However, the resort chain claims the couple knew what they were doing and allegedly offered to help others do the same.
“Paul and Christy Akeo fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same,” a spokesperson for the Palace Company told ABC News in a statement.
Mexican authorities also claim Christy went against her contract with the resort and “spread the word on Facebook about how they committed the fraud against the hotel chain,” according to a press release by the Attorney General’s Office of Quintana Roo on March 15.
The couple is accused of defrauding the vacation company while they had a timeshare membership with its resort in Cancun between 2021 and 2022 — disputing 13 charges made on their credit cards that totaled around $117,000.
They claimed the resort breached their contract, which guaranteed them preferential rates, and they began not receiving certain benefits.
The credit card company ended up siding with the couple, the money was returned to the Akeos, and their membership with the Palace Company was canceled.
The couple allegedly made “a total of 1,570 bookings” during their membership, which began in 2016, and would advertise their room for use on Facebook when they weren’t using it, according to the Daily Mail.
The company says it canceled their benefits and upcoming stays when they caught on to what they were allegedly doing.
“They were found to have breached their contract by promoting, for profit and/or commercial purposes, preferential rates and various benefits via social media which consequently led to the withdrawal of supplementary benefits initially included in their contract,” the Palace Company said in a separate statement, according to the outlet.
The company said this may have made them “disgruntled with the consequences of their actions” and disputed the charges on their credit card, leading to the cancellation of their membership.
Christy allegedly boasted on Facebook about how they got out of their contract.
“Anyone who is trying to get out of their membership and is hesitant… If you need help, please let me know,’ she reportedly wrote in one post.
In another post, she allegedly went into detail about how to go about disputing the charges.
“Report any and all credit card you used for monthly payments as lost or stolen… also any cards you may have used at resort for incidentals, gift shop purchases etc.,” she allegedly wrote, according to the outlet.
“Then just quit making your monthly payments. Palace will harass you for a few months by email, phone calls and even WhatsApp, but it’s very important not to respond to any of these. It takes about 3-4 months and then they will stop.”
Akeo’s family attorney, John Manly, told ABC News that the couple was “lured into this timeshare” and did what they could to keep up with the payments.
“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,” Manly said.
“But in exchange for that, 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.”
“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.”
However, the company claims arrests were legitimate and had even been “validated” by the international police organization Interpol.
“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,” the company said.
“A judge has since ruled there is sufficient cause for the case to proceed to trial and ordered the preventive detention of the Akeos.”
Christy’s daughter, Lindsey Hull, claims the company is “demanding” $250,000 and that they sign a nondisclosure agreement “that does not even guarantee their release.”
“If that’s not enough, they also demanded a public apology from my mom and Paul to be made to The Palace Company. Absolutely sickening,” she said.
