ICYMI: Man Sentenced in Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme at Newton Travel Agency

NEWTON, MA – The man behind a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud customers of a Newton travel agency was sentenced Wednesday to 46 months in prison.

Bret Gordon, 44, of Waltham, will also pay $2,891,092 in restitution to his victims and undergo three years of supervised release. Gordon pleaded guilty in November to six counts of wire fraud and two counts of filing a false personal tax return.

In 2013, Gordon established and owned a 65 percent interest in Tom Harper Cruises, a business selling overseas river cruise vacations. As the manager, he controlled the company's bank accounts and finances.

Soon after the company's founding, Gordon began taking money from its bank account for his personal use, primarily for casino gambling, investigators said. Much of the money he took were customer deposits that the company needed to pay the independent cruise companies that operated those overseas trips.

Tom Harper Cruises became unable to pay some of its regular expenses and ultimately failed to pay several independent companies for trips ordered by customers, causing the company to fold in 2015. Approximately 400 customers were snubbed of their trips.

From September 2013 to June 2015, Gordon took about $2,258,500 from Tom Harper Cruises, investigators said. He also failed to report about $165,000 in 2013 and $900,000 in 2014 – money he had taken – as income on his personal income tax returns.

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Story originally published Feb. 9.