A New Jersey man was sentenced to three years in federal prison this week for posing as a former playerin order to buy and sell family versions of Super Bowl LI rings. The convicted perpetrator - Scott V. Spina Jr. - claimed the rings were gifts to the family of . LeBron James Jersey One of the rings Spina sold at auction went for more than $337,000, Spina, from Roseland, N.J., began the scheme in 2017 when he purchased a Super Bowl LI ring from a former Patriots player. He scammed the player -identified only as "T.J." -by paying for the ring with at least one bad check. (The 2016 Patriots - who staged the biggest rally in Super Bowl history to beat the Atlanta Falcons - had no player with the initials "T.J." on their roster.)Spina, 25, then sold the ring to a well-known broker of championship rings in Orange County for $63,000 soon after.According to Dean Wade Jersey Spina's lawyer, "T.J." was the one who initiated the transaction by reaching out to Spina to sell his ring because he needed the money. They met through a busine s Spina started at age 15, in which he sold sneakers and sports memorabilia. Scroll to ContinueThe Department of Justice said that when he obtained the ring, Spina also received the information that allowed him to purchase Super Bowl Thon Maker Jersey rings that are offered only to family and friends of the Pats, which are slightly smaller than the player rings.According to court documents:Spina then called the Ring Company, fraudulently identified Larry Nance Jersey himself as the former player only identified as T.J. , 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.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.Spina tried to sell the rings to the same Orange County man who purchased T.J.'s Super Bowl ring. He claimed that the three new rings had belonged to Brady's nephews. The buyer was going to purchase them for $81,500, but then withdrew from the deal because he started to doubt Spina's story.On Feb. 1, . This was not his first time committing a crime. Spina was released from prison in 2020 after serving a 35-month Ante Zizic Jersey for unrelated checking-writing fraud.