Cruise operator sentenced to jail
Bret Gordon was sentenced last week in the U.S. District Court in Boston to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.9 million for defrauding hundreds of customers of the now-defunct river cruise reselling operation Tom Harper Cruises, the company he established in 2013.
Between September 2013 and June 2015, Gordon took about $2.3 million from Tom Harper accounts for his own use, primarily for casino gambling, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts reported. The court noted that about 400 customers were left without the river cruises they had booked, after paying Tom Harper Cruises nearly $2.9 million in total.
Gordon owned a 65% stake in the company, under which the Newton, Mass.-based Tom Harper River Journeys was operated. Tom Harper River Journeys sold river cruise inventory on ships throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, including on vessels owned by the former Haimark Travel, on CroisiEurope ships and on the Zambezi Queen in Botswana.