A Michigan couple held in a Mexican jail for a month over a timeshare dispute at a Cancun resort claim the judicial system was weaponized against them.
Paul, a Navy veteran, and Christy Akeo were released in early April after being arrested soon after their plane touched down in Cancun in early March.
They allege Palace Resorts LLC began a “secret lawfare campaign” against them after they disputed more than $100,000 in credit card charges, according to a lawsuit filed by the couple in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on Friday.
The New York Post, which first reported on the lawsuit, said the couple had bought timeshares for the resorts’ Cancun location starting in 2016. The couple were “wholesale customers” and would resell the resort bookings to others, according to the lawsuit.
The terms of the Akeos’ agreement with Palace Resorts changed in November 2021, and after, the resort claimed the couple “breached their membership,” the suit says.
The resort later went back on bookings the Akeos had set up for others, so the couple successfully disputed the credit card charges since the “product or services had not been received,” according to the suit.
Everything came to a head this past March when the couple was arrested by Mexican authorities at the Cancun International Airport after the resort accused them of “fraudulently” disputing the credit card charges, court documents obtained by The Independent show.
The couple spent a month in a maximum security prison in Quintana Roo, separate from each other, where they slept “alongside drug dealers and violent criminals,” according to the documents.
The conditions in the prison were deplorable, with “no working shower and no flushable toilet,” the Akeos alleged.
Lindsay Hull, Christy’s daughter and Paul’s stepdaughter, told the New York Post her mom lost 25 pounds in her first two weeks in prison because the food she was given had fish in it, even though she told the prison she was allergic.
The couple was eventually taken to court and told by their lawyer and Michigan Congressman Tom Barrett, who went to Mexico to help get them home, they needed to sign a settlement that included a non-disclosure agreement to get out of prison, according to court documents.
“Palace Resorts coerced the Akeos under duress to affix their signatures” on the agreement, while next to men carrying machine guns, the Akeos claim.
“It’s not fair that my parents are not able to speak about their story,” Hull told the New York Post. “They deserve to advocate for themselves.”
The resort has rejected the Akeos’ claims through attorney David Orta, who said, per the New York Post, that his client will “defend against them and otherwise take appropriate legal action to enforce the Palace Company’s rights.”
“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,” Orta said.
The Independent has reached out to the resort for comment.
