Michigan couple claim being held hostage over Mexico time share billing dispute

Christy and Paul Akeo, Michigan couple claim being held hostage over Mexico time share dispute in which they cancelled on what they claimed was $100K wrongful charges as they are jailed upon arriving in Cancun as time share company, Palace Resorts contests the ‘failure’ to make payments. 

Victims? Or scammers? A Michigan couple locked up at a ‘maximum’ security Mexico prison are no closer to freedom than when they first arrived 3 weeks ago for what was suppose to be a ‘dream vacation’ at their Cancun timeshare resort. 

Instead of checking into their hotel upon arriving at Cancun International airport earlier this month, Christy and Paul Akeo, both 60, found police waiting for them, with the couple accused of defrauding a local hotel chain and arresting them. 

Mexican officials stated that the couple signed a contract to buy a club membership at a hotel chain in November 2021. Monthly charges were made on a card. Except the Akeos didn’t make good on the monthly instalment plans according to Mexico authorities.

Did Christy and Paul Akeo think they were getting a free ride or were they conned? 

Between August and November 2022, the hotel learned that their bank had canceled 13 transactions totaling more than $116,000—approximately 2.4 million Mexican pesos at the exchange rate at that time.

Mexican authorities allege that Christy Akeo shared on social media how they reportedly committed the fraud.

Upon the couple arriving to Mexico on March 4, police arrested the couple.

Loved ones claim the couple believe the unpaid credit charges were already settled. Nevertheless the couple continue to remain behind bars, ClickonDetroit reported.

‘The scariest thing is they’ve been there for 21 days and we’ve had no contact with my stepdad Paul at all,’ said Lindsey Hull, their daughter according to the outlet.

Hull claims her mother and stepfather were arrested in ‘retaliation’ for challenging charges made on their American Express credit card by the Palace Company, a luxury, all-inclusive vacation brand with resorts in Mexico and Florida owned by Palace Resorts.

Michigan couple contest time share charges and then publicly share how to get away with not paying on Facebook

‘Palace Resorts breached the contract, and they’re retaliating and they’re extorting them because of it,’ the daughter claimed.

The couple had a timeshare membership with the vacation company and disputed charges totaling $117,000 from Palace Resorts on their credit card around three years ago.

The couple had challenged charges on their card after claiming the resort didn’t allow them to use their time as promised, leading to them disputing the contract along with charges being made to their card.

After months of challenging the charges, American Express sided with the couple, the money was returned to the Akeos, and their membership with the Palace Company was canceled, KTRK-TV reported.

Since the incident, the Akeos have returned to Cancun multiple times over the past few years and have never run into trouble until recently.

Sounds like they bought into a timeshare, signed the contracts to get the “Freebies,” then reneged on the contract.

I have a contract with resort club. No stupid maintenance fees, just a 25% discount off the mkt rate.

Anyway, don’t travel to countries where there are…

— BestLaidPlansOfMice (@BestPlansOfMice) March 25, 2025

Did Michigan couple conspire to take advantage of Mexico time-share? 

‘The last 21 days of torture my parents have been through is a direct response of The Palace Company’s corruption, extortion, retaliation and blackmail against our parents,’ Hull shared on social media.

She claims the company is ‘demanding’ $250,000 and for them to sign a nondisclosure agreement ‘that does not even guarantee their release.’

‘If that’s not enough, they also demanded a public apology from my mom and Paul to be made to The Palace Company. Absolutely sickening,’ Hull wrote.

The lawyer who represented the Akeos in the dispute against Palace Resorts, John Manly, said the case was closed (but was it really?) and the couple is being held ‘hostage.’

‘Make no mistake, what they’re doing is they are holding two Americans hostage because they want them to pay them money,’ Manly told CBS News.

‘American Express found for the Akeos, found for Lindsay’s parents, and refunded them over $100,000 of wrongful charges,’ Manly said.

But that’s not the way Mexico authorities are seeing the ‘alleged refund.’ Instead claiming the Akeos had acted with criminal intent and had ‘cancelled on 13 transactions maliciously by not recognizing the charges.’

Referencing a Facebook post Christy Akeos had previously made, (see below) where she walks other timeshare owners how to get out of charges, Mexican authorities cited the post as evidence of the Akeos ‘describing how they committed fraud.’

Mexico court sides with Palace Resorts and keeps Michigan couple in jail for another 6 months as they make their case

‘There is clearly no length that they are not willing to go to make an example,’ Hull said. ‘That is exactly what is happening here. On top of corruption and extortion and the fact that, you know, this has gone on now for three full weeks, it’s time for it to be done.’

Hull also alleged that her mom and Paul are ‘being denied medical attention, denied proper communication and publicly defamed.’

‘My mom has lost 25 lbs. in 20 days due to inability to eat as the prison is serving her food they are aware she is allergic to,’ she wrote. ‘She also has a severe rash all over her body they refuse to treat.’

Hull also revealed that she had spoken to Paul, a 21 year Navy veteran and Michigan State police officer, once in the last three weeks, but no one has contacted him since then.

The couple has already appeared in court in Mexico over the charges.

A judge gave the timeshare company six more months to gather evidence to make their case while holding the couple behind bars, while denying the Akeo’s request to be put on house arrest instead. 

‘This was intentional, it was knowing, it was calculated, and it was designed to extort them and to punish them for speaking out about what they felt was aggressive, wrongful, and illegal tactics by Palace Resorts,’ said Manly.

Hull said she has pleaded for help from the American Embassy in Mexico and other federal and state agencies, including the FBI and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office.

US Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) posted on X Monday that he has spoken to the couple’s family and has been working on getting them released.

‘I have been in contact and will continue working with the White House, State Department, and law enforcement partners in Michigan to ensure this situation is resolved as urgently and safely as possible,’ he wrote

And then there was these comments on the web that caught this author’s attention. See what you think?

‘If “this was over and done with” as the couple claims, they wouldn’t have had to issue a chargeback. Obviously the company didn’t consider it over and done with – chargebacks are a last-resort, one-sided solution for unauthorized charges or failure to deliver agreed-upon goods and services. If a company agrees with a customer, they can issue a credit card refund from their end. If the couple believed the company had breached the contract in a manner that absolved them of the responsibility to pay, they should have taken it to court or an arbitrator rather than resorted to chargebacks, so a third party could properly adjudicate the dispute.’

‘Sounds like they thought they could scam the hotel by taking advantage of the discounts and special rates being a member provides and then canceling the charges when they were back in the states. Sounds like Christy even bragged about it on Facebook.’