We previously reported on Whitehead v. Vacation Charters, Ltd., where Vacation Charters, the owner and operator of the Split Rock timeshare resort, was found liable for a class action judgment in excess of $2.2 million for misclassifying sales employees as independent contractors during a three-year period.  We concluded that post by saying: 

This case illustrates that attempts to limit expenses by re-classifying employees as independent contractors can often backfire in a big way when even one former employee attempts to recover unemployment benefits.

In late December, the extent of the downside for Vacation Charters came into some focus.  Ed Lewis of the Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times-Reader reported that U.S. District Court Judge A. Richard Caputo appointed ROPA Associates as a Receiver to oversee the Split Rock Resort in response to a petition filed by the resort's lender, Textron Financial Corp.  As receiver, ROPA Associates has assumed exclusive operational rights over the resort. 

Textron's action, and the judge's appointment, was prompted in part by concerns that almost $500,000 had been diverted from the resort's maintenance fee account to fund part of the $2.2 million settlement and Vacation Charters' planned bankruptcy petition.