Pair Pleads No Contest in Misspent Travel Funds Case

The operators of a defunct Van Nuys-based travel firm pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges that they had improperly spent money deposited by more than 85 students who were planning European trips during the summer of 1984.

Under terms of the plea in Los Angeles Municipal Court, defendants Charles D. Marinoff, 41, of Sherman Oaks, and Howard M. Newton, 35, of Glendale, who owned National Student Travel Center, agreed to pay back $113,000 owed the victim-clients. The two men, who both pleaded no contest to 10 of 183 counts filed by the city attorney’s office, were also sentenced to three years’ probation by court Commissioner Barry D. Kohn.

“The message should be clear: either provide the travel, or refund the money,” City Atty. James Hahn said of the prosecution under the 1972 state Travel Promoter Act.

The act states that travel agents must deposit funds from prospective travelers in a trust account until the money is actually used to buy the tickets or other contracted services.

No Jail Time Sought

Deputy City Atty. Gary T. Rowse, who prosecuted the case, said no jail time was sought for Marinoff or Newton because “we didn’t have any evidence of fraud or any intent to defraud.”

“It’s just a case where they ran out of money and improperly used money deposited by the travelers to pay ongoing expenses. . . ,” Rowse said.

Marinoff’s attorney, George Eskin of Ventura, said the pair began their business in 1983, placing posters on college campuses across the country offering tour packages at “a cut above what college students ordinarily expect.”

The response was overwhelming at first, Eskin said, with many students taking advantage of the $1,249 to $2,749 European packages, which offered such frills as private baths, baggage handling and no more than three students per hotel room.

The bottom fell out in early 1984, the lawyer asserted, when “thugs would come around and tear the (posters) down.”

Eskin blamed the problem on established rival firms that did not want competition from the San Fernando Valley-based upstart.

A refund to the victims “is not guaranteed,” said Rowse, because the defendants must pay off most of the money from their earnings during the probation period.

“But I’m fully prepared, if they have not completed the process, to seek having the probation period extended at least up to five years,” the prosecutor added.

Under terms of their probation, neither defendant can work as air travel promoters for three years. Marinoff is currently in a hotel-booking business. Newton is working in the banking industry, his attorney, Charles English, said.

Still pending is a civil suit filed by the state attorney general’s office seeking more than $200,000 in penalties from the two men. The suit accused the firm of falsely advertising that it had more than 25 years’ experience in handling tours specifically designed for students, even though it had begun business in April, 1983.