King of timeshares: Too poor to pay sales agents, rich enough to build world's biggest McMansion
Skift Take
To outsiders, timeshare salesman exist to make used-car salesman look respectable. To multi-millionaire Siegel they exist to sell your properties, then not pay commissions to. It's hard to imagine a situation where someone could look scummier.
David Siegel, a timeshare mogul who has boasted on national television of his wealth and plans to build America's most opulent home, might have to explain to a judge why he shouldn't have to pay past-due commissions owed to hundreds of area workers who sold units at his Westgate Resorts property along Ocean Boulevard here.
Gene Connell, a Surfside Beach lawyer who represents the workers, has filed court documents asking Judge Michael Baxley to force Siegel to appear in a South Carolina court and answer questions about his company's finances and a settlement agreement a Westgate subsidiary reached with the workers in 2010. Baxley has not ruled on the request.
The agreement called for CFI Sales & Marketing Ltd. -- the Orlando, Fla.-based company that sells Westgate's timeshares in Myrtle Beach and elsewhere -- to pay $650,000 to about 300 workers. CFI agreed to have a judgment entered against it and paid the workers $50,000 before defaulting on the agreement.
Connell says Siegel's recent statements on national television news shows -- including a vow to co
