A New Jersey man was sentenced to three years in prison for multiple fraud charges pertaining to his trading of Tom Brady-engraved Super Bowl championship rings, prosecutors announced.
The scheme began in 2017, when Scott Spina, 25, bought a Super Bowl 51 championship ring from a former New England Patriots player and obtained information to help him purchase family versions of the team’s Super Bowl 51 championship ring by posing as Brady, according to the Justice Department.
MAN FACES 92 YEARS IN PRISON AFTER BUYING AND SELLING TOM BRADY-ENGRAVED SUPER BOWL RINGS
“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,” court documents said. “The rings were at no time authorized by Tom Brady.”
“Spina intended to obtain the three rings by fraud and to sell them at a substantial profit,” the documents added.
In addition to the three-year federal prison sentence, Spina was ordered to pay $63,000 in restitution. Spina purchased the original ring and other memorabilia from a Patriots player, who was not named by the DOJ, with “at least one bad check” before selling it to an Orange County man, prosecutors said.
Spina then attempted to sell the three rings to the man from Orange County for $81,500, about triple the price he paid for the rings, claiming they were given to Brady’s nephews, prosecutors said. Eventually, the buyer reportedly became skeptical about whether Brady had nephews and backed out of the deal.
This led to Spina hawking the rings at an auction house for roughly $100,000, according to the DOJ. Spina later confessed to identity theft and fraud, conceding in a plea agreement that he falsely asserted the rings “were ordered for Tom Brady directly from [the ring company] for select family members,” per prosecutors.
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Spina pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft in February.
Last year, prosecutors indicated he could face up to 92 years in prison for his actions.
