Man charged with posing as New England Patriots player, selling Tom Brady Super Bowl rings
Authorities in California charged a New Jersey man with posing as a New England Patriots player, allowing him to purchase versions of the team’s 2016 Super Bowl ring.
The rings with the name "Brady" engraved on them were supposedly used as gifts to relatives of quarterback Tom Brady, and one was sold for $337,000 at an auction.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, 24-year-old Scott V. Spina Jr. is charged with one count of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Spina plead guilty to each of the five felony counts.
Feds say that Spina purchased a Super Bowl LI ring with at least one bad check from a Patriots player who later left the team. Spina then sold the ring for $63,000 to a ring broker.
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According to a release, "Spina then called the Ring Company, fraudulently identified himself as [the former player], and started ordering three family and friend Super Bowl LI rings with the name ‘Brady’ engraved on each one, which he falsely represented were gifts for the baby of quarterback Tom Brady. The rings were at no time authorized by Tom Brady. Defendant Spina intended to obtain the three rings by fraud and to sell them at a substantial profit.”
Spina claimed Brady had given the three rings to his nephews, and a broker agreed to buy them for $81,500, almost three times what Spina originally paid. The buyer started to hesitate when he thought Brady didn't have nephews.
Spina then sold the rings for $100,000. But in an auction in early 2018, one of the rings sold for $337,219.
Spina faces a maximum of 92 years in federal prison, but likely will receive less time behind bars because of sentencing guidelines.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brady Super Bowl rings sold in fraud case involving New Jersey man
