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Scott Spina, 25, of Roseland, New Jersey, was sentenced by U.S.
District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, California, after
pleading guilty in February to five felony counts of mail fraud,
wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Carter also ordered Spina to
pay $63,000 in restitution to the former Patriots player,
identified as "T.J." in court papers.
Prosecutors said Spina defrauded the player in 2017 by
purchasing his Super Bowl LI championship ring, using at least
one check that bounced, and later sold it to a southern
California broker for $63,000.
Court papers said Spina, posing as the player, then ordered
three rings engraved with the name "Brady" from the memorabilia
company Jostens, claiming they were gifts for Brady's baby.
Spina sold those rings in November 2017 to an auction house for
$100,000, about three times what he paid. One was auctioned for
$337,219 three months later, the papers show.
"The rings were at no time authorized by Tom Brady," the papers
added.
Lawyers for Spina did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Brady now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Spina had faced a mandatory two-year term for identity theft
alone, and his lawyers had said two years plus one day covering
all charges would be "more than sufficient."
The lawyers said Spina is the manager of his fiancee's Eyelash
salon business in New Jersey, and has been a "model of
rehabilitation" since being released from prison in 2020, where
he was serving a 35-month term for an unrelated wire fraud.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)
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