Days after the Florida Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against a swimming pool contractor accused of fraud, a settlement agreement was reached for a fraction of what was owed.

Jordan Hidalgo, owner of Staycation Pools & Spas, in Hillsborough County, near Tampa, was accused of taking nearly two million dollars from customers to build pools that were left incomplete or inadequate, according to a complaint filed by Attorney General Ashley Moody on January 16.

According to the lawsuit, nearly 100 customers came forward with their complaints, describing their financial losses and incomplete projects.

The settlement ordered financial judgments against Hidalgo and his companies, totaling $1,943,285, broken down as follows:

• $1,390,006 against Staycation Pools & Hidalgo.

• $363,751 against Modern Pools & Hidalgo.

• $189,528 against West Bay Pools & Hidalgo.

However, due to Hidalgo’s inability to pay the total judgement amount, demonstrated by his sworn affidavit, the attorney general agreed to suspend payment of the judgement, less $60,000.

Hidalgo is also permanently banned from owning or operating any swimming pool construction company in the state of Florida or doing any work that would require licensure as a Certified Residential Pool/Spa Contractor.

Hidalgo’s customers voiced displeasure with the decision.

Ashley Kennedy, one of Hidalgo’s customers, called the settlement “disgusting.”

“It seriously makes me sick to my stomach,” Kennedy said. “$60,000 doesn’t even really cover the cost that I personally lost with them. I can only imagine how all of us feel that were listed on the complaint — that had 78 of us — and that’s not even listing all the other people affected up and down Florida.”

Jillian Begin, another disgruntled customer, was also unhappy with the agreement.

“It’s a huge disappointment,” she said. “I know we are all trying to move forward from it, but it sort of lets me think that I’m not sure what the state has interest in. Are they here to help the contractors? Are they here to help the community? A lot of people struggled. I know there are people we still keep in touch with that haven’t been able to finish their pools.”

Begin currently has two liens against her house from subcontractors who say Hidalgo didn’t pay them.

“$60,000,” she said. “… I, alone, paid extra money to finish my project and that alone is what I had to put out, and I know there was dozens and dozens of victims of Jordan. And yeah, he won’t build pools anymore, but he’ll come into something else. He’s got it figured out and he didn’t have to pay.”

Hidalgo said that the settlement process took six months, and now his part of the case is over.

“I’m sorry it turned out this way for consumers,” Hidalgo said. “The companies grew too big, too quickly.”

Three of Hidalgo’s pool building companies were named in the case: Staycation Pools and Spas, West Bay Custom Pools, and Modern pools. Douglas Griffith, president of Staycation Pools, was also named in the lawsuit.

Some may recall that Hidalgo was briefly involved with Olympus Pools in 2021, which at that time billed itself as the largest custom pool builder in the state of Florida. When Olympus was accused by more than 150 customers of incomplete installations, Hidalgo stepped in to help bail the company out. Three months later, however, Hidalgo announced he was severing ties with Olympus Pools, which permanently shut down shortly thereafter.

Hidalgo’s own legal troubles started in 2023, when customers began complaining about unfinished pools started by some of his companies. In September of that year, Hidalgo relinquished his nine contractor’s licenses when the Attorney General began looking into the complaints. He was arrested in August, 2024, and charged with two contractor fraud felonies related to the unfinished pool projects. That case is set for a pretrial hearing in March.