Branson.con Part IIGary Groman and the $20,000,000 time share fraud case investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - swarming.
The screen shot above is Branson.com in April 1994. The banner on the left hand side is the company called Ticket and Travel cited in the story below. As a lure to con Branson's guests when they clicked they arrived at 1branson.com where Groman claims he had no knowledge of the FBI investigation elaborated by the United States Department of Justice Press Release cited below:Not very astute for a purveyor of news
From the Department of Justice (Press Release)
TENNESSEE MAN SENTENCED FOR $20 MILLION TIME-SHARE FRAUD AT TWO BRANSON HOTELS
Branson City Limits had spent all the money it received from First Choice Management Services by the end of November 2000. In the spring of 2001, Branson City Limits began sending leaseholder requests for information about third party management companies to Ozark Ticket and Travel. As before, Graves said, the “rental income” paid to leaseholders actually came from money paid to Branson City Limits by other investors who purchased leases.
In May 2002, Weaver and some of those working with him formed Resort Hotels, Inc., headquartered in Florida. Resort Hotels purchased the Dogwood Inn in Branson for $5.1 million on May 3, 2002, paying $300,000 down, another $700,000 in 90 days, and a promissory note for $4.1 million. Resort Hotels obtained the down payment and most of the $700,000 from Branson City Limits. Weaver and others began marketing leisure leases for the Dogwood Inn under the same kind of arrangement with Ozark Ticket and Travel.
The Dogwood Inn’s operating expenses also exceeded its revenue. “As with Branson Inn,” Graves said, “the so-called ‘rental income’ paid to Dogwood Inn leaseholders actually came from money paid by other investors who purchased leases, not from any vacationers renting the rooms.”
Both Branson Inn and Dogwood Inn closed in November 2003.
Weaver and others sold leisure leases in the Branson Inn from July 2000 through October 2002, generating more than $10 million in revenue.
Weaver and others sold leisure leases in the Dogwood Inn from June 2002 through August 2003, generating more than $17 million in revenue. Realty Property Management and Ozark Ticket and Travel returned less than $4 million to leaseholders in the form of “rental income.”
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas C. Bunch. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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