Michigan Couple Returns to U.S. After Being Held in Mexico Prison for a Month Following Dispute with Timeshare Resort

• A Michigan couple has returned to the U.S. after being held in a Mexico prison following a dispute with The Palace Company
• Paul and Christy Akeo have reportedly reached an agreement with the resorts company after it accused the pair of defrauding them of over $100,000
• Congressman Tom Barrett, representing Michigan’s 7th district, traveled to Mexico and shared a clip on X showing the couple boarding a plane to head back home on Thursday, April 3

A Michigan couple is now back in the U.S. after being held in a Mexican jail for a month following a dispute with a timeshare company.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Paul and Christy Akeo were held in a prison after being arrested while traveling to Cancún on March 4, the couple’s daughter claimed in a March 24 Facebook post.

In a previous statement, the Attorney General of Quintana Roo state alleged Christy had gone on Facebook to “spread the word” about having “committed fraud” against The Palace Company after her husband canceled 13 transactions totaling nearly $117,000.

In a Thursday, April 3 statement, the Attorney General then said that the couple had reached an agreement with the resorts company, which had resulted in the pair’s “immediate release” back to the U.S.

The Palace Company confirmed in a statement that the parties had “agreed to a resolution of their dispute,” noting that the $116,587.84 back-charged to the Akeos’ American Express card would be “donated to a bona fide established nonprofit in Mexico benefiting orphan children.”

“Each party regrets that this incident occurred,” the company wrote.

Congressman Tom Barrett, representing Michigan’s 7th district, shared a video on X showing the Akeos boarding a plane to return home, writing, “Paul and Christy Akeo are coming home. Mission accomplished.” 

The Akeos’ law firm confirmed the couple, of Spring Arbor, had been “released from custody and [had] returned to Lansing, Michigan,” per a statement obtained by PEOPLE. The couple have made it safely home, attorney Stu Mollrich confirmed to PEOPLE.

“No American should be held hostage to the demands of a private company anywhere in the world,” Christy’s children Michael and Lindsey said in a statement through their lawyer.

“Paul and Christy are under the care of physicians and therapists to be treated for illnesses and trauma inflicted upon them during their captivity,” the children continued. “We ask that their privacy be respected as they rest and heal. The family will have much more to say about this ordeal in the coming days,”

Mollrich told PEOPLE last month that his clients had a membership with Florida-based company Palace Elite Resorts — which has multiple locations in Mexico — and argued the company “breached their contact and failed to provide the goods and services they had been charged for.”

The Akeos had purchased a timeshare membership with Palace for $6,923 per month for a period of 11 years in 2021, Mollrich said, but after flagging the alleged breach to American Express, the couple had $116,587.84 kicked back to their card.

Christy would later become moderator of a Facebook group full of former Palace guests disgruntled by the company’s “heavy-handed and deceptive business practices,” Mollrich said.

In March, the couple traveled back to Cancún and were arrested upon arrival at the airport, the attorney noted.

The Palace Company said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE on March 27 that criminal proceedings were underway against the Akeos “following a multi-year pattern of serious contractual violations and deliberate fraud during and after their membership in Palace Elite.”

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Following the couple’s release, the Akeo family said that Congressman Tom Barrett had traveled to Mexico “camped out at the prison and made it clear that he would not return home without them,” per NBC News.

“Through four straight weeks of fear and uncertainty, Congressman Barrett’s commitment to bringing our parents home safely provided us with hope and reassurance,” the family added, according to the outlet, as well as thanking President Donald Trump and others “for working tirelessly” to make sure the Akeos were released.

A PR firm representing The Palace Company and the Akeos’ law firm didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.