KC Reporter

A Springfield, Mo., business owner has been indicted by a federal grand jury for a timeshare fraud scheme and for failing to pay over $333,000 in federal taxes withheld from his employees’ paychecks.

Brian Scroggs, 52, was charged in a six-count indictment returned on May 14, 2024, by a federal grand jury in Springfield. Scroggs owned several businesses that focused on various aspects of the timeshare exit industry. These businesses claimed to provide services to help clients exit their timeshare contracts.

Scroggs owned Vacation Consulting Services, LLC, and The Transfer Group, LLC, both located in Springfield from 2014 through February 2019. He also began operating Real Travel, LLC on June 5, 2018. Although Real Travel was registered in Arkansas, it conducted business from the Vacation Consulting Services office and utilized the same employees. Thus, it effectively operated as Vacation Consulting Services under a different name.

According to the indictment, Scroggs employed sales teams who traveled nationwide hosting seminars where Vacation Consulting Services/Real Travel presented their services to timeshare owners. They claimed they could get clients out of their timeshare contracts for a fee and promised either to buy their clients’ timeshare contracts or refund the fee if they failed within a year.

By January 2019, the indictment alleges that Scroggs knew the timeshare industry was no longer negotiating with companies like his to release contract holders from their agreements. Despite this knowledge, he allegedly continued soliciting new clients throughout January 2019 by falsely claiming he could still provide these services.

The federal indictment charges Scroggs with three counts of wire fraud related to three clients who were allegedly defrauded by this scheme. According to the indictment, these clients paid over $32,000 but were not released from their timeshare agreements nor received refunds.

Additionally, Scroggs is charged with three counts of failure to pay over federal employment taxes. He allegedly failed to remit $333,483 in federal income taxes and FICA taxes withheld from his employees' paychecks for the third and fourth quarters of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.

The charges contained in this indictment are accusations and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting these charges must be presented to a federal trial jury responsible for determining guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney and investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI.

___