Some scams are just so out there, it’s a struggle to piece together just how someone thought it up, but here we are. A US man is in serious trouble, like FBI level trouble, after scamming more than $200,000 from the University of Hawaii, who thought the money was going towards a Stevie Wonder performance.
As Music News has it, Marc Hubbard of North Carolina is facing federal charges on account of wire fraud and could spend the next 20 years locked up for it. Another man, Sean Barriero has also been arrested for handling the ill-gotten gains at some point throughout the scam.
The Federals caught on that something was not quite right after school officials discovered that neither Stevie Wonder, nor any of his people, had received the payment. I’d say that’s a dead give away that you’ve been hustled.
“No money went to Stevie Wonder or any entity authorised to represent Mr. Stevie Wonder,” said US Attorney Florence Nakakuni. The $200,000 had been used to pay for the performer’s booking fee. Apparently thousands of dollars in tickets have been refunded already.
Hubbard turned himself into the cops and now awaits word on whether or not he will be sent back to Hawaii to face a judge there. There’s no word yet from Stevie Wonder, who has so far seen no real reason to comment. I’ll leave that joke where it is.
