A Springfield business owner was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 14 for allegedly running a timeshare fraud scheme and failing to pay more than $333,000 in federal taxes, according to a May 24 press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Brian Scroggs, owner of Springfield-based Vacation Consulting Services LLC and The Transfer Group LLC, was indicted on six charges, according to the release. Scroggs’ businesses focus primarily on the timeshare termination industry, he claims, helping clients get out of their timeshare contracts.
According to the release, in January 2019, Scroggs knew that timeshare companies no longer negotiated with timeshare termination companies like his, but at the time, he continued to solicit new customers “by falsely representing that he could terminate customers from their timeshare contracts.”
At the time, three customers allegedly paid Scroggs’ company more than $32,000 combined and never received a refund. The 52-year-old business owner, who also owns Real Travel LLC, was indicted on three counts of wire fraud related to those customers.
Scroggs was also charged with three counts of failure to pay federal employment taxes, for failing to pay more than $333,000 in federal income and other taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. The case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI, according to the release.
