DANNY : DE HEK

For 27 years, Five Diamond Club®, LLC has promoted itself as a gateway to luxury travel, promising exclusive access to over 32,000 resorts, private yachts, elite mansions, and even private jets.

Headquartered near Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, the company is led by CEO Mike Del Toro—a figure now publicly identified as the man pitching high-ticket memberships in Zoom meetings.

Del Toro, who appears in sales calls presenting secret internal pricing documents, positions himself as the face of the brand’s luxury dream. However, his background is opaque, and his company’s operations raise far more questions than answers.

Who’s Who in This Exposure

  • Michael Del Toro: CEO of Five Diamond Club®, promoting high-ticket “lifetime vacation” memberships through unverifiable luxury promises.
  • Patrick Laing: Founder of Certainty Management, Vidme.io promoter, and frequent guest in shady Zoom pitches.
  • Danny de Hek: The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, known for confronting scammers live and exposing fraudulent operations.

This blog documents a critical exposure that unfolded in a covert Zoom meeting featuring two figures at the center of deception: Michael Del Toro of Five Diamond Club® and Patrick Laing. What began as a probe into a luxury travel club quickly unraveled into a broader web of misleading schemes.

Faith-Based Branding and Big Promises

The company’s own About Us page states that Five Diamond Club is a “100% three-generation-family-owned” Christian-Catholic-Faith-based company that has been offering subscription and membership travel services since April 1, 1998. The company claims it does not profit from reservations but instead passes on savings from its vast network of providers directly to members and subscribers. It also boldly envisions becoming the top global travel brand by 2035, with a goal of over two billion subscribers—an ambition that defies logic given its current obscurity.

The Del Toro Dynasty

Michael Del Toro is portrayed as a legacy founder who was mentored by his parents, Alejandro (RIP) and Laura Del Toro, former travel agency owners in Texas and Cancún. Alejandro served as CFO until his passing in 2012, while Laura remains listed as a Board Director for the Spanish-speaking department. The website states that Del Toro is grooming other family members to become future leaders of the company—suggesting this is very much a family-controlled enterprise rather than a professional travel corporation.

A Self-Made Executive—Or Self-Mythologizing?

A separate page dedicated to Michael Del Toro reads more like a self-promotional biography than an executive profile. It highlights that he vacations full-time, claims to have lived permanently in luxury resorts and on cruises with his children since 2016, and operates the company virtually while globe-trotting. His background includes a BBA in marketing from Texas Christian University, past work at American Airlines, and participation in various volunteer law enforcement programs. The site also claims he has built relationships with world leaders and CEOs, and that his family brings “more than 100 years of travel experience.” While impressive on paper, none of these claims are backed by independently verifiable documentation.

A Failing YouTube Presence and a Broken Sales Funnel

Del Toro is also featured on the company’s YouTube channel in a poorly produced interview alongside VP of Business Development Anil Ramcharitar. His presentation style mirrors that of a traditional high-ticket sales closer—charismatic, vague on details, and quick to evoke exclusivity. The lack of transparency about his career background, qualifications, or prior ventures is striking for someone asking clients to invest up to $250,000 in an “elite” lifestyle program.

The company’s official YouTube channel (@fivediamondclub), created in 2012, does little to build credibility. With just 33 subscribers and 22 low-quality promotional videos, the channel looks amateurish and poorly maintained. Despite its claims of global luxury access, the channel lacks professional production, high engagement, or any independent testimonials. The channel’s Calendly link, which is featured in both the video descriptions and on LinkedIn, currently leads to a 404 error—an embarrassing oversight for a company claiming to offer seamless luxury service and concierge-level experiences.

The Fiction of a Corporate Empire

Even more absurd is the company’s contact page, which gives the illusion of a large global operation. It lists over 20 departmental email addresses for everything from “Concierge” and “Complimentary Vacations” to “Bill Savings Upload” and “Ultimate Luxury.” For a company that appears to be run primarily by one man operating virtually while living on cruise ships, the bloated structure is laughable. Yet the same names—Del Toro, Ramcharitar, and one Spanish-speaking rep named Noemy—are the only people visibly connected to the business.

Enter Patrick Laing: Scam Veteran Turned Travel Pitchman

This blog wouldn’t be complete without addressing the man who helped bring all this into sharper focus: Patrick Laing. Known for promoting deceptive platforms like Certainty Management and now deeply entangled in Vidme.io, Laing was caught red-handed in a private Zoom meeting with none other than Michael Del Toro. In that meeting, they discussed the very spreadsheet that exposed the pricing chaos inside Five Diamond Club—a document never meant for public eyes.

An Unfiltered Message Before the Exposure

Just two hours before that meeting, Patrick received a message from Danny de Hek, The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, disguised in that Zoom call as Ali Mashni:

“Hi Patrick,

Well, well, well… [Message continues as already included]”

The Undercover Zoom That Changed Everything

What makes this moment especially delicious is that neither Patrick Laing nor Michael Del Toro realized there was a third participant silently tuned into their little strategy session. That extra Zoom window? “Ali Mashni”—the fake Beonbit promoter, famously unmasked as an AI deepfake—was actually me, Danny de Hek, The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, undercover and taking notes in real time.

While these two MLM masterminds thought they were casually sharing insider documents, I was screen-capturing every moment like it was a Netflix exposé in the making. You’d think they’d have learned by now to scan the participants list a little more carefully.

And just when you thought the Zoom couldn’t get more surreal, Patrick Laing—mid-scheme—tried to pitch Ali Mashni (me) on not one, but two other questionable ventures: certaintycash.com and certaintysocial.com. He posted both links in the chat, apparently thinking he was making a move on a fellow scammer. It was at that exact moment that I dropped a wall of red flags into the chat—point-by-point rebuttals of Five Diamond Club’s marketing lies.

Suddenly, things clicked. They realized I wasn’t a like-minded fraudster. I was The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger. Cue panic.

After 27 minutes of stealth surveillance, I was swiftly booted from the meeting—but not before I’d published the damning truth in front of them both. Imagine their faces reading:

Red Flags and Potential Concerns

  1. “Wholesale Travel” Claims Without Proof — no receipts, no IATA integration.
  2. Vague or Fluffy Testimonials — nothing verifiable, all emotion.
  3. “Lifetime Membership” Language — no terms, no refund guarantees.
  4. “Complimentary Vacations” — upsell traps and port fees hidden behind the word free.

That was the moment the dream collapsed into damage control.

This one-on-one exposure Zoom, conducted under cover, revealed not only the mechanics of Five Diamond Club’s pricing but confirmed Patrick Laing’s full awareness of and involvement in yet another shady operation. He was not merely promoting a travel club—he was helping to legitimise it with the same energy he used to mislead recruits into Vidme.

Inside the Spreadsheet: The Truth About Membership Pricing

In a private Zoom presentation, an internal spreadsheet was shown listing more than twenty membership plans ranging from annual and monthly options to “lifetime” and “private label” tiers. Pricing ranged from free to $249,997 USD, with several entries marked “negotiable.” These include vague labels like “Executive Partner,” “Brand Ambassador,” and “Adamantium Incentives”—clearly designed to create the illusion of exclusivity while offering no clear definition of benefits.

Selling a Dream, Not a Service

The sales strategy appears to hinge on aspirational storytelling, obscuring the financial risk involved in joining. Instead of showing side-by-side pricing comparisons, Five Diamond Club sells a dream lifestyle. The emotional appeal is strong, particularly for those who long for luxury but lack access. That makes the platform especially dangerous for working-class individuals or retirees lured in by the idea of generational wealth and bucket-list travel.

No Transparency, No Trust

Unlike traditional travel booking platforms, there is no public portal to browse deals, verify savings, or preview benefits before paying. Many of the offer pages linked in internal documents are not even indexed or accessible from the main website. This lack of transparency stands in sharp contrast to their promise of “full access” to deals and concierge services.

The Verdict: Smoke, Mirrors, and MLM Tactics

Five Diamond Club may not call itself a multi-level marketing company, but it shows the same playbook: vague perks, tiered memberships, influencer recruitment, and hype over substance. While it may have been around since the 1990s, longevity alone does not equal legitimacy. The company has evolved its language over time but has not adapted its practices to meet modern standards of transparency, accountability, or compliance.

For those considering membership, the real question isn’t whether Five Diamond Club can get you a good deal. It’s whether the dream they’re selling is worth the price—and whether that dream is real at all.

Have you been pitched by Patrick Laing or Michael Del Toro?

Send us your story. We’re compiling a public record of deceptive travel and affiliate schemes to prevent others from falling victim. Help us hold these promoters accountable—and ensure the next victim sees the warning signs before it’s too late.

About the Author

Danny de Hek, also known as The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, is a New Zealand-based investigative journalist specializing in exposing crypto fraud, Ponzi schemes, and MLM scams. His work has been featured by Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Guardian Australia, ABC News Australia, and other international outlets.

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