SANTA ANA, CA (1010 WINS) — A New Jersey man was sentenced to three years in prison for posing as football player Tom Brady to obtain Super Bowl rings and sell them, authorities said Monday.
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The 25-year-old Roseland man, Scott V. Spina Jr., bought a Super Bowl LI ring from a Patriots player with a bad check in 2017. Soon after, he sold the ring for $63,000 to a well-known championship ring broker.
When Spina bought the ring, he also got his hands on information that allowed former players to buy Super Bowl rings for family and friends that are a bit smaller than the player’s 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 court 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.”
After purchasing the three rings, Spina tried selling them to a California buyer. The buyer agreed to purchase the three rings for $81,500 but soon started to believe that Brady did not have nephews and tried to withdraw from the deal with Spina.
Spina eventually sold the rings to an auction house for $100,000 in Nov. 2017, the same day the buyer backed out of the deal. During a Feb. 2018 suction, one of the family rings sold for $337,219.
On Feb. 1, Spina pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud and identity theft. Along with his prison sentence, Spina will have to pay $63,000 in restitution to the former Patriots player who sold him his Super Bowl ring and other memorabilia.
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