Man faces fraud charges after buying engraved ‘Brady’ Super Bowl rings

A New Jersey man was charged on Monday by federal prosecutors after he was accused of posing as a former New England Patriots player in order to buy family versions of a Super Bowl ring.

Scott V. Spina Jr. allegedly bought three Super Bowl rings engraved with the name “Brady” and attempted to sell them while claiming that former New England Patriots player Tom Brady had given the rings to his family members. One of the rings sold for over $337,000, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

The 24-year-old now faces one count of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft and has agreed to plead guilty to all five counts, per the release.

An FBI art crime team investigation found @Patriots Super Bowl rings were real, but the story of them belonging to Tom Brady’s relatives wasn’t. A NJ man is charged with posing as a fmr player to buy them, one sold for $337K.@FBILosAngeles @USAO_LosAngeles https://t.co/CTq7PhBBre pic.twitter.com/I96XwupkJt

— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) December 21, 2021

Court documents showed that Spina’s scheme began in 2017, when they say he bought a Super Bowl ring from an ex-Patriots player using at least one bad check. He allegedly later sold the ring for $63,000, the release said. 

“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,” Monday’s filing said, per the U.S. attorney’s office.

“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,” it added.

Spina admitted in a plea agreement to falsely claiming the rings were for family members, defrauding people via wire transfers and committing identity theft, per the release. He will appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Jan. 31.