eBay Scammer Gets 30 Months in the Slammer
A Houston man who defrauded 46 customers on eBay by charging them for hot tubs they never received has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced Wednesday.
Indicted in February 2008, Todd Lanni, the owner of Factory Direct Spas, pleaded guilty to wire fraud just before his jury trial was scheduled to begin in December 2009. On Wednesday, United States District Judge Keith Ellison sentenced Lanni to 30 months in federal prison without parole for the wire fraud conviction to be followed by three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $191,734.49 to the defrauded customers who ordered, but never received, a hot tub.
Lanni’s Factory Direct Spas advertised and used eBay to sell custom hot tubs to the highest bidder in the United States, Canada and Europe. He demanded full payment from customers who wired payment before the hot tub was to be built. Once he received payment from a customer, Lanni used the money to pay for trips and expensive restaurants visits in and around the Houston area.
The 24-month investigation leading to the charges against Lanni was conducted by the FBI’s Houston Area Cyber Crime Task Force and the United States Postal Inspection Service and initiated in January 2006 after receiving complaints from customers who had paid for hot tubs and never received them.
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