Betrayal and broken friendships
A tight-knit group of friends from Portugal traveled regularly to triathlons around the world, but recent events have shaken that group to the core, shattering once close friendships, landing some now in a Portuguese court.
What happens in Abu Dhabi …
In March, 2011, pro triathlete Pedro Gomes, known as Krepster or Klep and who is racing for the QT2 Systems coaching triathlon squad, was scheduled to race the long course Abu Dhabi Triathlon. His roommate for that trip was Sérgio Costa, a Portuguese age group athlete also tackling the long course. Hélder Milheiras was along for this trip and he and Miguel Reis, another friend, shared a separate room. The fifth friend in that group was Ricardo Lanceiro who shared a room with his girlfriend. Of the group of friends only Gomes is a Pro and all others compete as age groupers, but as this crew always had done at many other events before, they worked out together, shared meals, hung out and snapped pictures of their experiences.
On race day Gomes did not have a good day and pulled out of the event early and went back to his room. Milheiras and Reis had finished the short course event already and remained in support of Costa and Lanceiro who were still racing the long course. Afterward all then returned to Portugal and carried on with their respective lives.
Ten months later Costa noticed unfamiliar charges on his credit card statement, and checked his previous statements. Charges he did not recognize totaled roughly $10,000. Sérgio Costa would not be interviewed about this, citing as his reason a pending legal case. His friend Hélder Milheiras shared the story:
"Sérgio (Costa) only noticed that his card was being used in January and decided to do some investigation and…. when he noticed WTC, QT2, flights, hotels and Quarq [on his credit card statements] he called me and it was obvious that only one people we both knew used this two equipment," wrote Milheiras via email. "Next day we called Pedro [Gomes] and made him confess. Sérgio even proposed for him to sign a confession and avoid being taken to court, but his actual girlfriend and lawyer refused it."
Gomes paid back all the money charged on the Costa's credit card, and that was confirmed by his lawyer Monica Almeida: "As mentioned by Mr. Pedro Gomes it is true that about two years ago, my Client owed a certain amount of money to Mr. Sérgio Costa for which he has been entirely reimbursed when demanded, as Mr. Costa will certainly confirm to you."
We asked Mrs. Almeida, Gomes' lawyer, if "owed" properly represented the status of the money in question.
"By 'owed' I mean owed. Nothing more, nothing less," replied Mrs. Almeida.
The case entered the Portuguese legal system because Sérgio Costa filed charges against Pedro Gomes, and there has been as of yet no final outcome. While Mr. Costa did not want to be interviewed about the case, Hélder Milheiras says the charges were filed because Gomes took too long to pay the money back and did not sign a confession. Mr. Gomes did not want to speak on the record.
His lawyer did.
"As mentioned before, Mr. Pedro Gomes has no wish to discuss this matter anymore, since as far as he understands, he has done everything he needed to solve the problema [sic] with Mr. Costa. He is obviously sad that Mr. Costa hasn't overcomed [sic] the situation, even though Mr. Pedro Gomes paid him what he owed, but there is nothing more he can do," said Mrs. Almeida.
When this story became public another Portuguese pro close to several of the figures in the Abu Dhabi story began to wonder about his intersection with Pedro Gomes, and he started to worry. He had been dealing with a hotel customer service issue since the Ironman Florida 2010 and something now seemed awfully wrong.
Cash transactions at Ironman Florida
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After the 2010 Ironman Florida was over, a group of Portuguese friends went to Orlando to decompress. Pros Sergio Marques and Pedro Gomes were joined by age groupers Vanessa Pereira, Sergio Dias, Rita Barata Correia, Maria Joao and Ines Cruz. Gomes had booked the apartment for the group. (pictured below during happier times with Paulo Sousa and Sergio Marques)
"I offered to have my credit card as deposit and at the end Pedro collected money from everyone to pay cash. A month later I got my credit bill for roughly 550 Euros, the amount we supposedly paid," recalls Sergio Marques. "I asked Pedro to see what had happened and a few days later Pedro forwarded me an email from Floridays [the resort] saying that the refund would happen."
We asked Marques to forward that email to us and here is what the email said that came from do-not-reply@floridaysresort.com in late December of 2010.
"Dear Mr. Gomes,
"We have identified the situation and it was indeed a wrong claim by our system. We have been dealing with stability issues on our credit card system but we are wroking [sic] on resolving them. However and since the money has already been claimed, we can't stop the process and will have to proceed with a refund once the transaction is completed.
"Also, as the card was used by the principal cardholder you can't use the legal protection offered to consumers of credit cards. The process of refund will start immediately after the claim is over but may take up to 60-days as this is an overseas transaction.
"Your process number: 400190/10.9YIPRT. Please use this reference for future inquiries.
"We apologize for any inconvenience caused and would like to offer you a 25% discount on your next stay with us. To claim this offer just mention your process number on the reservation statement.
"Kind regards,
"Janet Williams Customer service Floridays Resort Orlando."
This update was peace of mind for Marques and he moved on with his life expecting to see his money back in two months. But as April came around he realized that the money had still not arrived and he asked Gomes again to see what was going on. In May of 2011 Gomes forwarded another email from Floridays to Marques and this time another customer service representative was handling the situation.
"Dear Mr. Gomes,
"We sincerely apologize for this delay. Our Customer Support department is experiencing an extremely high volume of incoming emails at this time. As a result, we have not been able to respond with our desired level of service.
"We are happy to announce that we successfully issued a refund for your claim. However, our services weren't able to proceed with the refund as your account returned as unavailable. This may be due your credit account cancellation or a policy of your credit card company that we are not aware of.
"In order to complete your refund, please return to us with a valid bank account so we can wire you the total value of your claim.
"Our business hours are Monday-Friday, 7:00am-5:00pm (PST).
"Best Regards,
"Seth J. Roberts – Customer service Floridays Resort Orlando"
The email above, from Seth J. Roberts, was forwarded to Sergio Marques from Pedro Gomes. Mr. Gomes led Mr. Marques to believe it was in response to Mr. Gomes' own due diligence follow-up email. Below is the email Mr. Gomes presented to Mr. Marques triggering the response from "Seth J. Roberts." Mr. Gomes' email was addressed to customer.service@floridaysresort.com, and reads as follows:
"Good morning,
"On the past month of December I contacted customer service in order to "get a wrong credit card claim checked & refunded. I got a reply from Janet Williams issuing a process with ref # 400190/10.9YIPRT. This was a wrong money claim on the reservation credit card and the answer was that it was a system error and that the money would be refunded back to the credit account.
"About two weeks ago, I sent a email to check on the current situation and got no reply to the current date.
"Since this' an urgent matter, I'm reinforcing my quest for updates on the current situation of our process.
"Thank you in advanced,
"Best regards
"Pedro MR Gomes"
Marques then forwarded more bank information to the resort, but many more months went by and nothing happened and not a cent of that money showed up again in his bank account. (below a picture of Gomes winning the 2013 Ironman Sweden)
In early 2012 when Marques learned about the Pedro Gomes Abu Dhabi situation and he decided to contact the resort directly both via email and phone calls. The response he then got back from Lisa Jayne Robbins, a Floridays Front Office Supervisor completely floored him.
"Mr Marques,
"Thank you for the email. Unfortunately the individuals listed below (Seth J Roberts and Janet Williams) are not employed by Floridays Resort Orlando. The email address customer.service@floridaysresort.com is also not affiliated with us.
"May I suggest you contact Booking.com and research the matter with them, as I have no record of the cash transaction.
"Thanks,
"Lisa Jayne Robbins
"Front Office Supervisor"
Marques followed up with the case number and wondered if there has been a change in ownership but Robbins assured him in an email that the company did not use such case numbers and added: "Our resort has been managed by the same company since its opening in 2006. I have also verified with our General Manager and Human Resources Director that neither of the individuals listed have ever worked for this company."
With all this now in the open Marques realized he had been deceived. He contacted all his friends and made them aware of the situation.
"Pedro had the nerve to tell everyone that he didn't remember paying cash, but everyone remembered giving him the money," recalls Marques. "He eventually paid me the money a few months ago, and I never spoke with him again. What was unbelievable is that he said to my face that I didn’t know how to behave in life."
We asked the Pedro Gomes camp about this specific situation and got the following response from his lawyer. "Regarding the 'situation with Mr. Sergio Marques, we are not aware of the specific facts Mr. Marques (or anyone on his behalf) told you, or even the words that were used, which makes it more difficult to deny or confirm anything," said Mrs. Almeida. "We can, however, assure you that there are no reasons for any accusations on this matter (never were), criminal complaint or any civil law suit because the reality is Mr. Gomes did nothing wrong. And as you know he has no problem in admitting his mistakes."
We have asked, but have not been given, any for-publication comments or quotes from Mr. Gomes admitting any mistakes.
Stories of athletes on the professional triathlon circuit of theft, deceit, loans never repaid, homestays ending very badly for the hosts, have circulated for decades. This occasion however is notable for its scope and impact on a close-knit group from a small country reliant on each other for moral support and comradeship. The once super tight crew of friends has been ripped apart by these happenings.
