A few days ago, I first wrote about a bizarre story, whereby an American couple is being jailed in Mexico over a dispute with a resort company. The couple claims that they’ve been jailed over a legitimate credit card dispute, while the company claims the couple committed fraud.
Some more details have emerged about what happened, and while there are still conflicting claims, I think we have a better picture of the reality. Honestly, I’m not really sure what to think. The timeshare and resort vacation package business is one of the more predatory and unethical out there. At the same time, this couple seems far from innocent.
Michigan couple jailed in Cancun over resort dispute
An American couple from Michigan has been jailed in Mexico since March 4, 2025. They were arrested at Cancun International Airport (CUN), upon arriving in the country. They had vacationed in Mexico a countless number of times, and were obviously caught off guard by this kind of a “welcome.”
This dispute involves Palace Resorts, a resort and timeshare company based in Florida. The disagreement with the parties has actually been taking place for years. The first thing to understand is that the pair weren’t just casual members who got sold on a timeshare once.
As of a few years ago, the couple had $1.4 million worth of memberships, with over $500K already paid in. They had signed 19 different membership agreements. The wife reportedly vacationed in Mexico every month, to escape the cold weather in Michigan.
According to what the wife shared on social media in the past, Palace Resorts became angry at the couple when they started using photos that they took to promote Palace Resorts properties in various Facebook groups (let me note that this claim seems totally outlandish, but I’m just sharing the details as presented).
Palace Resorts reportedly claimed that the couple were stealing intellectual property, and as a result, the company started canceling all of the vacation reservations that the couple had, including access to the company’s lucrative referral program.
The contracts with Palace Resorts are one-sided, and the contract reportedly allows the company to make changes to benefits without notice. However, the couple’s lawyer said that canceling reservations was a breach of contract, and this gave the couple an “out.”
As a result, the couple started disputing charges from the resort on their American Express cards. Specifically, the couple disputed 13 different credit card transactions, totaling over $116K. The credit card issuer took the couple’s side with this dispute.
Ultimately, the Mexican government viewed this as fraud, and this caused the couple to be arrested. The resort is now demanding $250K and a public apology in order for the couple to be released. That apology should come in the form of a Facebook post that’s left up for at least a week, claiming all responsibility for what happened. They also demanded an NDA be signed.
It’s worth noting that the husband is a police officer and veteran. The daughter of the couple (who is kind of the Facebook spokesperson for all of this) points out how this is no way to treat a veteran. With the wife not working, one certainly wonders how this couple had $1.4 million to invest on vacation packages, but that’s a different story…
Below is a video with a decent summary of the claims made by the couple.
Mexico claims couple defrauded resort of $100K+
What’s the other side to this story? Officials in Mexico have charged the couple with defrauding Palace Resorts, and both were wanted by Interpol. So they were arrested upon arrival in Mexico because their names triggered an alert when they attempted to enter the country.
According to Palace Resorts, between 2016 and 2021, the couple willingly entered into 19 separate membership agreements with the company, worth around $1.4 million, in exchange for benefits and rates intended exclusively for personal use.
However, in 2021, the company found the couple to be in “material breach” of the agreement, as the couple promoted and profited from their benefits on social media, which the company claims is strictly prohibited under the terms of the contract.
Among other things, the wife seemed to basically be a reseller of Palace Resorts stays, and you can see many of her Facebook posts around 1min40sec and 2min15sec into the below video.
In April 2022, the company notified the couple that they had violated the agreement, and the couple had to sign a waiver acknowledging that they would refrain from posting any future comments about the company. They signed this, claiming they were being extorted, but then continued to post about the company.
Not only did the couple file credit card disputes for their own stays, but the wife then went onto Facebook groups for Palace Resorts members, and encouraged others to similarly file credit card disputes, and to claim fraud. She even bragged about having “helped thousands of members” dispute their charges for memberships.”
While the couple has claimed they’ve done nothing wrong, the couple’s lawyer has taken a different stance. He basically doesn’t address the nature of the allegations, but instead focuses on how this is a civil matter rather than a criminal one. He argues that “last time I looked, we had the First Amendment, we had free speech” (in Mexico?) and:
“This is just a bunch of lies and I think what the documents illustrate is this is a civil dispute. We don’t put people in prison in this country or in Mexico for breach of contract. This is a timeshare, not a crime share.”
I’m not sure what to make of this situation?
I find the timeshare business to be highly unethical and predatory, and I think that 99 out of 100 times, I’d assume that in a dispute, the timeshare company is the one that’s out of line.
That being said, it seems pretty clear to me that the couple isn’t innocent either. They didn’t just casually buy a timeshare. Instead, they purchased 19 different ones, and the wife seemingly turned this into her full time gig, based on the amount of time she spent in Facebook groups discussing this.
In a foreshadowing that almost seems like it’s out of The White Lotus, at the same time that these charges were being disputed, the wife posted the below quote on her Facebook page, about how you should travel while you’re able to, and “don’t worry about the money, just make it work.”
Now, should this be a civil case rather than a criminal case? I’m not a legal expert, but typically it seems like that’s how it would go.
That being said, this also seems like a case of “FAFO” (f*** around and find out). Laws are different in Mexico than in the United States, and if you have a company actively suing you over breach of contract, maybe don’t keep going back to that country to vacation, where laws are different? First Amendment and free speech laws don’t apply to Mexico!
I will say, of course I still feel bad for the couple being in jail for weeks. I imagine they never thought this situation would end like that. But they’re also clearly not really innocent here.
Bottom line
An American couple has been jailed in Mexico for weeks, after they were arrested upon arrival. The couple claims to have simply disputed fraudulent charges from a timeshare company, and states that American Express sided with them. Meanwhile the Mexican government claims that the couple defrauded the resort, and the wife even bragged about the fraud on Facebook.
What do you make of this strange situation?
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