A set of twins who swindled sports fans paying for out-of-town sporting events admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud Monday.
Anthony "Tony" Casias and his twin brother Leopold Casias Jr., stole money from San Diego sports fans through their company, L & T Sports Events, Inc. prosecutors said.
The Los Angeles Times reports the Casias brothers entered guilty pleas Monday and each face a maximum 20 years in prison and mandatory restitution to victims.
The two Chicago men charged clients in advance for travel, lodging, transportation and game tickets to out-of-town sporting events, such as a New York Giants game or football game at Notre Dame.
The brothers told customers they would purchase specific flights, game tickets and hotel accommodations for a set amount of money.
In most cases, they spent the money on themselves.
Sports fans were left stranded in Oakland, Calif., Chicago and Hoboken, N.J., without game tickets, a hotel room or even a return plane ticket home to San Diego.
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The Casiases would sometimes instruct their clients to pay a second time for tickets to whichever sporting event they were supposed to attend with false promises that they would eventually reimburse their clients for the additional expenses. The reimbursements never came, according to the indictment.
On one occasion, the defendants allegedly used one of their client’s credit cards to pay for another client’s trip to Hawaii.
Once the clients returned to San Diego, the brothers avoided them and failed to return their phone calls or refund their money.