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Palm Beach boiler room manager pleads guilty to fraud
By Palm Beach Business.com
WEST PALM BEACH — The manager of a Palm Beach County boiler room that scammed as many as 2,000 victims in the United States and Canada has pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud charges, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Michael Ferrari, 27, of West Palm Beach, could receive as much as 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on July 30. Ferrari was a manager for International Resort Solutions, a company that claimed that it could find buyers for timeshares — for an advanced fee.
According to court documents International Resort operated a number of boiler rooms throughout Palm Beach County. Ferrari and others who worked at the company solicited more than 2,000 timeshare owners, telling them that they could sell their timeshare units in exchange for an upfront fee. Victims were told that International Resort had buyers for the units and that closing dates were scheduled. When that date passed without a sale occurring, the scammers told victims that the deal had fallen through because the buyer didn’t qualify for a loan.
Never fear, they were told, International Resort would market their timeshares and a buyer would be found. Eventually.
Ultimately, the firm took its victims for more than $3.3 million.
According to prosecutors, Ferrari managed one of the Palm Beach County boiler rooms, where he supervised the telemarketers. Six other IRS boiler room managers, Jeffrey Fields, Thomas Ford, Bryan Bergeron, Joshua Holmes, Colin Van Nest Talmage, and Joseph Eichenlaub also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and all face a maximum term of 20 years in prison.
Three other defendants, Michael Franzenburg, Kenneth Foote Jr., and Joseph Grizzanti were charged in a separately. Franzenburg was the owner of IRS and Foote and Grizzanti were managers of an IRS boiler room. Foote and Grizzanti recently received sentences of six years and five years imprisonment, respectively.
