Paralegals & Legal Secretaries

Paralegal Takes on Title of Whistleblower

By ParalegalGateway.com

Lakeland, Florida - Jenn Cooldige says it was like a nightmare every day, knowing that customers who booked travel with the online website, Dynamic Leisure, would never reach their final destinations.

?There are dreams and hearts being broken here,? Jenn told us, sitting in the kitchen of her Lakeland home.

The longtime paralegal decided to take on the title of whistleblower after working for the company for six months, from July 2007 to January 2008. She answered an ad on Craig's List and thought it would be exciting to work for a travel company.

She says she was dead wrong.

She claims her boss, CEO Dan Brandano, was taking customers' money, but rarely booking their travel, often leaving people stranded at the airport with no reservations at all.

"They [Dan] were going into pay pal and taking money off of people's credit cards that hadn't been released by the credit card companies yet, and putting into one of 3 bank accounts, then other bank accounts and other bank accounts," Jenn says.

Dream trips turned into nightmares. Vendors became angry when they saw that their accounts went unpaid from Dynamic Leisure, according to records. Cooldige says one hotel in the Caribbean showed an outstanding balance of more than $600,000 that Dynamic Leisure had yet to pay.

Countless couples have emailed Tampa Bay's 10 News, telling horror stories of preparing for a honeymoon, only to find out, it was never booked even after a credit card was charged.

In another case, a group of 24 passengers in Washington D.C. was out $37,000 after arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport and discovering their reservations didn't exist.

"How can you get up and look at yourself in the morning, knowing that you have people going on their honeymoons on their wedding knowing not only do they have no air. They have no wedding," Jenn told us.

Jenn showed us document after document where Brandano owed thousands of dollars, but she says would never pay.

After six months, she resigned and says she began filing complaints with the Florida Attorney General's Office and The Securities and Exchange Commission, since Dynamic Leisure is a publicly traded company. She also filed paperwork, she says, with the FBI.

Jenn admits, "I don't think that Mr. Brandano anticipated his employees coming together the way that they have to stand up to him."

The Attorney General's Office in Connecticut has launched an investigation into Brandano and his business practices, but Florida is slow to follow, despite the fact that 10 News faxed multiple emails to the Attorney General's office in Tallahassee, showing customer complaints and concerns.

Florida has yet to open it's own case against the CEO.

But Jenn refuses to give up, "I've done everything I can do to try and make my voice heard to make people aware that if they have booked travel with Dynamic Leisure to please check with the resort to confirm your reservation."

We've spoken with Mr. Brandano in the past about these allegations. We talked with him once again Wednesday night about these latest accusations.

Brandano gave this response, "We are handling this and issuing refunds. Our refunds are coming. We are working with the Department of Consumer Services."

However, Tampa Bay's 10 News continues to receive emails on a daily basis about this story, and we have yet to hear of any customer receiving a refund.

Mr. Brandano has since retained counsel. (Source>>>)

Full post as published by ParalegalGateway Blawg on August 14, 2008 (boomark / email).