Another lawsuit for admitted fraudster as he heads back to court

Listen to this article

A vacation package salesman was hit with a third lawsuit days before a scheduled court appearance over a suit, filed in May, accusing him of violating the terms of a settlement reached with the state in February.

A vacation package salesman was hit with a third lawsuit days before a scheduled court appearance over a suit, filed in May, accusing him of violating the terms of a settlement reached with the state in February.

Daryl T. Turner will be in Morris County Superior Court on Friday concerning a lawsuit filed May 19, stating Turner violated the terms of a February settlement by engaging in the travel business through a new company, Travel Deals LLC, as well as hiding assets from the court while denying his ability to pay $2.2 million in customer restitution. As part of the February ruling, Turner was barred from advertising, offering for sale or selling vacation packages in New Jersey for five years.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Division of Consumer Affairs filed a complaint in Burlington County Superior Court alleging Turner and his wife, Robyn Bernstein, had failed “to fulfill promises of complimentary cruises and airfare used to induce attendance at sales presentations, and failing to provide the luxury vacation packages at discounted prices represented during the sales presentations” through their companies, Reservations, VIP Executives LLC and Travel Deals.

“Although Travel Deals is a relatively new company, the defendants’ unconscionable business practices are not different than those of Turner’s prior enterprises: bait-and-switch promotional gimmicks, empty promises of deep-discount luxury vacation packages, and costly and unconscionable cancellation policies,” said Thomas R. Calcagni, DCA acting director.

According to the DCA, the division has received 15 consumer complaints, “the majority of whom paid between $2,500 and $5,194 for vacation packages, which as alleged in the state’s new lawsuit, turned out to be essentially worthless.”

More than 670 consumers were listed in the 2009 suit against Turner, which accused him of taking payments and not delivering contracted-for vacations.

The state is seeking consumer restitution, reimbursement of state legal fees and civil penalties that could escalate up to $20,000 per violation, as they are considered secondary violations.