Dynamic Leisure's president in court

Tampa, Fla. - Wearing a dark pin-striped suit, Dan Brandano walked out of a bankruptcy hearing at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Tampa with little to say.

"Mr. Brandano what do you want to say to the people whose vacations that you've ruined?" I asked.

His attorney tried to speak on his behalf, but it's Brandano's words that dozens of customers have been waiting to hear.

"You've avoided the cameras for three months. Isn't there something that you want to say to your employees who haven't been paid?" I asked.

"In appropriate time, in appropriate time," he answered.

In July, Brandano shut down his company, Dynamic Leisure, leaving dozens of customers stranded on vacations they had already paid for. The problem was Brandano didn't pay the airlines and resorts.

"I think there will still be cases when people are arriving in Jamaica not knowing that their vacation's not been paid for and that's when they're on their honeymoon or their wedding and I'll be the one to give them the bad news," said Randy Russell, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Couples Resorts.

In a small room inside the courthouse, several creditors gathered to hear Brandano's testimony about what went wrong with the company. Several former employees were sitting in the audience.

"There were a lot of lies, a lot of lies," said Barb Hadidi, the former head of Information Technology for the company.

Brian Leto, who was the ARC Manager for Dynamic Leisure, agreed.

"He was aware of the fact that Saber, which is our ability to issue airline tickets, was down and that was down in part to his lack of payments to both the corporation in New York they were using and to Saber itself," said Leto.

Leto and Hadidi are among several employees who still have not been paid by the company.

Hadidi said she's owed "at least 17,000 for this year. There's money from 2005 also that he owes me."

"Currently, I'm owed about three thousand dollars in back pay as well as vacation pay and commissions that were promised to me in a certified letter signed by Dan Brandano I have yet to receive. I have tried to contact him on a couple of occasions to try to recieve that money and have been blown off," said Leto.

There was a list of more than 125 creditors that are owed a total of more than eight million dollars from the company. However, none of the customers who ended up paying double for their vacations are part of that list.

"Isn't there anything you want to say to your customers or your employees that haven't been paid," I asked Brandano.

"We'll sort it out," he said.

"How do you plan on sorting it out, sir?" I asked.

However, he did not reply.

"Based on the past few months with all the interviews that were promised and all the phone calls that weren't returned, it's not surprising that he didn't said anything," said Hadidi.

"He's a terrible businessman and he's a horrible person for doing that to all those vacationers," said Leto.

A continuation of the bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for the first week of December. Meanwhile, an investigation is under way to see whether Brandano will face any criminal charges as a result of his business dealings.