(WHDH)– A 24-year-old New Jersey man is facing up to 90 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to posing as a former player for the New England Patriots.
Scott Spina allegedly used this fraudulent access to purchase three family versions of the team’s 2016 Super Bowl championship ring, according to a release issued by the US Department of Justice Monday. One of the rings then sold at auction for more than $337,000.
According to court documents, Spina purchased a Super Bowl LI ring in 2017 that was awarded to a Patriots player who subsequently left the team. He is accused of bilking that former player by paying for the ring with at least one bad check, prosecutors say.
He then sold the ring soon after for $63,000 to a well-known broker of championship rings.
It was then that Spina received information that allowed the former player to purchase Super Bowl rings for family and friends that are slightly smaller than the player 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,” according to the documents. “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.”
An Orange County, California man agreed to buy the rings off of Spina who claimed they had been given to Brady’s nephews for more than $80,000 — nearly three times what Spina paid for them.
The buyer had second thoughts and withdrew from the deal and Spina sold the rings to an auction house for $100,000 the same day.
In his plea agreement, Spina admitted that he defrauded the Orange County ring broker when he falsely claimed that the rings “were ordered for Tom Brady directly from [the Ring Company] for select family members.” Spina also admitted that he defrauded this victim in relation to three wire transfers for the deposit on the family rings. Spina further admitted he committed identity theft when he posed as the former Patriot to purchase the rings.
He will make his first appearance in federal court in Los Angeles on January 31. He has also agreed to pay restitution to the former Patriots player who sold his Super Bowl ring and other memorabilia.
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