Wimauma Travel Agent Headed To Prison For Defrauding Cruise Clients

WIMAUMA, FL — A Wimauma travel agent has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison on charges of defrauding clients and cruise lines.

U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew sentenced Diana M. Hopkins 48, on charges of wire fraud, access device fraud and money laundering. As part of her sentence, Bucklew also ordered Hopkins to forfeit the $115,995.67 in proceeds from her crime and to pay $432,938.64 in restitution.

Hopkins pleaded guilty on April 12.

According to court documents, Hopkins owned and operated Hopkins Travel Services LLC in Wimauma. From about April 2017 through September 2019, Hopkins used the business to make false and fraudulent misrepresentations in soliciting clients via Facebook, a website (www.htsvacationdeals.com) and other means to purchase cruise packages through at discounted prices or “buy one, get one” deals, at discounted prices well below what the cruise lines actually offered.

Hopkins also offered clients further discounts and additional travel amenities to induce them to make payments for cruise package reservations and related travel arrangements in full well in advance of the clients’ cruise sail dates.

Hopkins required clients to provide credit card information ostensibly for the purpose of paying for their cruise package reservations and related travel arrangements, and then used the credit card information to make Ponzi-style payments on other clients’ reservations via the cruise lines’ reservation portals.

When Hopkins put credit card information into the cruise lines’ reservation portals, she altered the names associated with certain credit card information so they matched the names on the cruise package reservations to which she applied the payments.

Hopkins required other clients to make payments via Stripe, Square, PayPal and other ePayment services, and then transferred the payments into bank accounts she controlled. Once again, she used proceeds of some clients’ ePayments to make Ponzi-style payments on other clients’ reservations through the cruise lines’ reservation portals.

According to court documents, Hopkins used a portion of her clients’ payments made for cruise package reservations and related travel arrangements to pay for personal and family expenses including groceries, restaurant meals, retail shopping, household items and services. Among other things, she purchased cruises for family members, jewelry and a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500.

Records show Hopkins stole $461,823.38 and received at least $91,495.67 in proceeds, in addition to the $24,500 she used to buy the 2019 Dodge Ram.

This case was investigated by FBI.