A Massachusetts timeshare resort, Harbor Hill, has lost around $1.8m through embezzlement by a former administration employee, Donna Zoppi, 61 year-old. The resort, Harbor Hill, filed for bankruptcy in 2016, and discovered it was due to so many funds having been frittered away.
What they did not realise is that it was a direct injustice by one of their most trusted staff members, Zoppi, from Eastham, who was the sole employee with access to the company bank account. She used the bank account to take maintenance payments, down payments on ownership, and other such administrative actions from 2008 to 2015.
Zoppi was not exactly very discreet in her theft of the monies that were getting paid in, as she wrote herself personal cheques which she later cashed from the Harbor Hill Account. She also used the debit card for personal expenses, ATM withdrawals and transferring money straight from the Harbor Hill account in to her own personal one.
She also did not seem to hide the fact that she had a lot of money. Over the time that she was ciphering the money from the account, she purchased a horse for her step daughter, took luxurious holidays, and attended exclusive shows that were not cheap.
The investigations started when Harbor Hill noticed the money was disappearing from the account, and the consumer hotline at the Attorney General’s office had received complaints. Zoppi was indicted by the grand jury on Friday, and her sentence is still to be decided on the decision of the judgement.
This is a sad story, which unfortunately happens all too often, when employees have too much access to private files, bank accounts and other privileges that that they could make money out of. Employees can get very greedy, especially if they think that they will get away with it. Which Zoppi clearly did. She got away with it for 7 whole years, put the company that trusted her into liquidation, whilst she was out enjoying all the resort members hard earned cash.
It looks like she will receive a judicial sentence, we will report on any updates that we hear from the case. We would like to hear from any Harbor Hill owners that may have been affected by this theft.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk