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robert bello, it is so very unfortunate that the ideas and essence of your excellent letter weren't expressed prior to the culmination of the nysag's case against TMC/IAN BRUCE EICHNER. it seems schneiderman got his victory without regard for us owners but merely for sake of winning and adding another feather to his legal cap. it became very clear that schneiderman wasn't working for TMC owners but only for his "boss", new york state, then on to bigger and more new york state voters'issues...........perhaps seeking to extend his voter base. indeed, the result of this court case was, of itself, a sham and a joke. it offered us owners next-to-nothing even considering the dollar amount of the settlement. i hereby donate my so-called share of that money to an american charity, in which COLLECTIVELY it could do some good. i will be on the list of letter writers to the newly-appointed judge who will, i hope, make THE EICHNER FRAUD DEBACLE A TRUE LAWSUIT RATHER THAN AN INVESTIGATORY COMPILATION LEADING TO A "SETTLEMENT" THAT WILL NOT COME CLOSE TO MAKING US TMC OWNERS FINANCIALLY WHOLE. MANY THANKS, ROBERT keep in touch. chris [Q=robertb1802] I’ve been thinking about the gross inequity of the settlement being proposed by the AG to terminate his investigation into allegations of fraud against Ian Bruce Eichner and his associates at The Manhattan Club. It has occurred to me that with a newly assigned judge, Justice Melissa A. Crane, she may not be aware of the extent of the civil and criminal allegations of wrong doing which the AG has leveled against these respondents, in addition to, and beyond violations of the Martin Act, which the settlement seems to focus on almost exclusively. I just sent the judge the following letter encouraging her NOT to accept the settlement which is being proposed and to familiarize herself with the history of the AG’s investigation, and the extensive allegations of criminal misconduct leveled against Eichner et. al. I’m encouraging all Manhattan Club owners to write to the judge expressing dissatisfaction with the settlement similar to mine. The text of my letter follows: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// October 25, 2017 Justice Melissa A. Crane Supreme Court of the State of New York 71 Thomas Street, Room 303 New York, New York 10013 Re: Case # 451536/2014 Schneiderman v. Eichner Dear Judge Crane: I understand that you took over the above referenced case from Justice Eileen Rakower. I also recently learned that the NY Attorney General has reached a settlement with the Respondents in this case, and is ending his investigation into the operation of The Manhattan Club timeshare with the signing of an “Assurance of Discontinuance.” As a Manhattan Club timeshare owner, I am writing to urge you to reject this settlement agreement. While it is true that the settlement will result in the removal of some really “bad apples” from the NY timeshare business, it fails to address most of the allegations of wrongdoing committed against us timeshare owners by Ian Bruce Eichner, a Manhattan real estate billionaire, and his close circle of associates. During his investigation, the Attorney General established that Mr. Eichner, members of his family, and a close circle of associates played a direct role in carrying out a huge timeshare scam against an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 owners for at least 10 years, defrauding them out of tens of millions of dollars. My wife and I and literally thousands of other timeshare owners have suffered very significant financial losses due to the fraudulent conduct of the Eichner family, The Manhattan Club, and its related companies. While still living in NY, we purchased 2 timeshare units at The Manhattan Club in 2005 based on a sales presentation, during which just about every claim or promise made by the sales rep was false, misleading, or an outright lie; and the NY Attorney General’s undercover investigators have evidence of it all recorded on video. The Manhattan Club’s obligation to me as a timeshare purchaser was to make 7 days per year available to stay at the property. Instead of making those days reasonably available, The Manhattan Club engaged in an organized scheme to routinely tell me, and other timeshare owners who called to make a reservation, that the desired days were not available; while at the same time, representatives were selling the same rooms for the same dates to the general public on the Internet. Again, based on evidence gathered by the AG, we have learned that, for years, Eichner has been personally skimming 6 million dollars a year from The Manhattan Club through a shell management company called “Urban”. This company for years had no employees and provided no services to the operation of the timeshare property, yet our timeshare corporation was paying them (Eichner) $6 million a year! Having come to this case very late, you may not have had a chance to read the complete file, but you will be astounded at the mountain of evidence the AG has collected during his investigation of The Manhattan Club. Perhaps one of the most revealing documents is the AG’s July, 2015 court filing, “MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN OPPOSITION TO RESPONDENTS’ MOTIONS (MOTION SEQUENCE #1 AND #2) AND IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CROSS-MOTION (MOTION SEQUENCE #3)” which itemizes a remarkable list of allegations of civil and criminal conduct on the part of The Manhattan Club. I have enclosed a copy of this filing for your ready reference in case you would like to read the complete document. https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=arMAhc2Z8epneiTXUbb_PLUS_yQ==&system=prod With such a preponderance of evidence in hand, I am at a complete loss to understand how the AG could choose to ignore 3 years of investigative effort and all the evidence of misconduct it uncovered, and end his investigation with nothing more than a financial slap on the wrist to Eichner, while leaving thousands of defrauded owners out in the cold, and in legal limbo as to their ownership status. As a result of the fraudulent conduct perpetrated against us by The Manhattan Club and its affiliates as well as the NY Attorney General’s allegation of fraud and other criminal conduct, I urge you to reject the settlement agreement proposed by the parties as inadequate. Sincerely yours, Robert A. Biello encl. AG Memorandum of Law[/Q]