In 2002, James Tarpey, an attorney licensed to practice law in Montana began promoting a timeshare donations scheme by forming the Project Philanthropy Inc. d/b/a Donate for a Cause. The fraudulent set-up would “allow” unhappy timeshare owners who wanted to divest of their timeshares to “donate” the timeshares.
In the set-up, Tarpey would illegally “appraise” the value of the timeshare and then advise the owner that the appraised value of the donation could be used as a deduction on their federal taxes. Despite knowledge that the “donation” could not be used as a deduction on the owner’s taxes and that the appraisals were illegal, and without divesting the owners of the unwanted timeshare, Tarpey collected over $19,623,437.00.
In 2015, The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) took legal action against Tarpey for the fraudulent scheme. In March 2019, an order was entered in which the court concluded: 1) Treasury Regulations disqualified Tarpey and any of his appraisers from conducting timeshare appraisals for Donate for a Cause because they were not independent appraisers; 2) Tarpey knew the appraisals were false statements and that the false appraisals resulted in tax avoidance; and, 3) Tarpey was subject to penalties, however, the amount was left open to be determined at a later date. A final Order was issued on December 16, 2021, at which time the Court ordered Tarpey to pay $8,465,000.00 plus interest.
The Abrams Firm has been following this matter since the beginning:
https://theabramsfirm.com/can-you-donate-a-timeshare-and-reap-the-tax-benefits/
Attorneys at the Abrams Law Firm are licensed attorneys in good standing. We are true consumer protection attorneys ready to advocate on your behalf for a full divestment or litigate against the billion-dollar industry, if need be.
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