Fraud trial, white gloves in McGinn, Smith case

When the Securities and Exchange Commission charged alarm industry investors David L. Smith and Timothy McGinn in 2010 with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of at least $80 million, one of the SEC's contentions was that some of the money was diverted to pay for “strippers and go-go dancers” on McGinn's You Only Live Once cruise ship business.

Now, a judge has ordered that another cruise business associated with the case—this one with the tonier name of White Glove Cruises—be sold for more than half a million dollars to help pay the creditors of Smith and McGinn—who served as CEO of IASG from 2003-2006.

McGinn and Smith, founders of an Albany, N.Y.-based investment firm that conducted dealing in the alarm industry, also were indicted this year on criminal fraud charges that could send them to prison for years, if convicted. Each has pleaded not guilty and their trial—originally scheduled for last month—now is set to begin on Nov. 13.

The sale of Dania Beach, Fla.-based White Glove Cruises was approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Homer in a June 20 decision in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York. The buyer of White Glove, and a related business called Luxury Cruise Receivables, is Caribbean World Travel Services, and the purchase price is $575,000 in cash, along with other considerations, including being relieved from further lease obligations of more than $258,000, court records show.

White Glove is a travel agency “with Timothy McGinn appearing to have taken a material role in its management,” according to court records.

This business sounds much more refined than McGinn's YOLO (You Only Live Once) venture. The agency specializes in booking cruises “on more luxurious cruise lines,” and had gross billings of between $9.7 million to $12.4 million for each of the past three years, court records say.