Bataillon ended the hearing by telling Urbanovsky to abide by the pretrial release conditions, “come to court when you’re supposed to and stay out of trouble.”

The scam came to light last spring when complaints about Urbanovsky’s business began trickling into the Better Business Bureau in Omaha from all over the country. The BBB received more than 1,600 complaints, with alleged losses totaling $1.3 million, said Jim Hegarty, president of the BBB in Omaha.

Hegarty said Friday that he was not yet ready to offer an opinion on the terms of the plea agreement. But he added, “at least we’re getting to some closure on this.”

Purchasers booked flights through Creative Creations’ online portal. Some people were able to successfully book travel through late March 2015, but other would-be travelers came away with nothing.

Creative Creations sold vouchers for travel on Southwest Airlines that it said were valid for travel anywhere in the United States for about $150 or less. Southwest was not involved in voucher sales.

Federal investigators say Urbanovsky ran the scam, which they likened to a Ponzi scheme, from about May 2014 to March 2015.