Buyers Trapped in Feud with Sunseeker...

No, it cannot be generally. In fact, many builders can't afford to build a boat without having the money. They depend on progress payments. The key is good contracts and protection of your money and/or the boat being built. If you've paid money toward what is being built, then you should have an ownership interest in it. We're talking very complicated situations and high levels of exposure. As usual, the time to get a good attorney is before you start, not after it happens. Good lawyers are not the ones who win cases for you, they are the ones who keep you out of court and keep you out of legal quagmires.

And that's the problem here. You're not buying from the manufacturer, you're buying from the dealer who buys it from the manufacturer with your money. Tough to write a contract that has a security interest with the dealer in the middle....So the "high level of exposure" is the key phrase. That and get an attorney FIRST.

The other issue is the purchaser of the 74' in question here, traded his previous boat into Obey towards this new one months before, who sold it months ago.

The equivalent of giving him money.....just put a dollar figure on it. That boat is gone.

Yes, but the issue/responsibility is with Obey and not Sunseeker.

There should have been affidavits for Obey and Sunseeker to sign acknowledging payments for owner to know all is well with the MONEY. Hard to believe owner did not require being privy to status of payments. Oh, I forgot they are friends.

Yes it is....

Lost his boat plus payments on the new build. What a con, and Obey is still selling boats. Florida should make sure this can't continue.
Florida auto dealer license:
https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/forms/86056.pdf
Florida yacht and ship broker license:
http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/lsc/yacht/documents/Yacht_Ship_license_application.pdf
There was earlier post by olderboater that said no Florida license is required to sell new boats. Wondering how that happens?

Of the two states that require yacht broker licensing for used boat sales there is no such requirement for new boat sales. However Obey was a licensed broker and if the trade-in was sold as a brokerage deal i.e. the title went directly from seller to buyer then it could be construed as a brokerage transaction. Did Obey earn a brokerage commission on that sale? Has the broker denied the seller his proceeds? It gets complicated. FL yacht & ship would have the authority to act against the broker but the broker has changed entities. Does that make a difference? While FL yacht & ship may play a part because of the "trade-in" I doubt it would have much if any impact on a resolution of this mess.

It would have an impact if they started pulling license from the bad players, might not get Turners money back, but takes out the dishonest dealer. Also, I have never seen a new boat dealer that was not doing used boat deals, which means they have a license issued by DBPR which can be revoked, hard to do business without it. The real problem is nobody's policing the industry.

The problem isn't limited to the industry. It's businesses where law enforcement is very hesitant to make criminal charges. The answer you get is, "It's a Civil Matter." You just don't see a lot of fraud charges made. They are difficult cases to prove too as they require proving intent. So, these things get tied up in civil litigation. Meanwhile people open new businesses in the same location while dissolving the business being sued. The individual claim it was all done under the business entity and nothing personal, no personal liability.

The Florida brokerage rules provide very little protection, definitely not designed to protect those buying multi million dollar yachts.

Did not read all the posts, but did this character Obey give up any of the money to Sunseeker? or take all of the deposit money and blow it?

simple as a ''Paid'' receipt on account/installment.

Paid receipt from Obey does no good since Obey hasn't paid for the boat.

Obey paid some money on his account with Sunseeker but deducted and didn't pay large amounts. There's a multi million dollar difference between him and Sunseeker.

Note too that the buyer had no agreement, no contract with Sunseeker and Sunseeker International has no presence in the US per their legal argument.

Exactly, buy used!

I've only bought new, up to boat number 10, never had any problems. Plus another 8 RIB's.

ob, I doubt the con's could out manure you. This boat deal is not the norm, just a yacht dealer not managing his business and getting in financial trouble. Then stealing from Peter to pay Paul which caught up with him. Nobody gets paid except the lawyers.

I see , got it.
Kiss that money good by.
It's really amazing what people do with their money , Both parties Obey and the buyer.

Anyway what comes around , goes around .....

Yes, but the multi-million dollars is owed between 6 or 7 different new boats/buyers to Sunseeker. SO, only Sunseeker knows how much is still owed on each boat (and Obey of course).

And they don't agree on those numbers and it actually includes many more boats because of Obey trying to offset warranty work on other boats against the purchase of these.