Please tell me this is not the same guy:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2003/November/03_crm_639.htmMissouri - Eastern District
United States v. Formato (E.D. Mo., indictment filed Nov. 13, 2003)
•Summary: On November 13, 2003, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Missouri indicted Nicholas Formato, 21, Shaun Kellerman, 22, and Aaron Coffey, 20, on one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to the indictment, between Oct. 2, 2002 and Feb. 13, 2003, Formato, Kellerman, and Coffey monitored Internet-based auctions for sporting event and concert tickets on systems such as eBay and identified losing bidders. Thereafter, one or more of the defendants would send a form letter e-mail message to losing bidders informing them of the availability of additional tickets and inviting those bidders to purchase such tickets from one of them. When a bidder responded to an e-mail invitation to purchase tickets, the bidder was instructed how to pay for the tickets, typically by way of a Western Union money transfer. In other cases, one or more of the defendants fraudulently solicited bids for event tickets using auctions on eBay. Winning bidders were typically notified by e-mail that the winning bidder was required to make a substantial payment of funds, typically by way of a Western Union transfer of money, before any tickets would be delivered. The indictment further alleges that, upon receipt of money from a bidder, the defendants would keep the proceeds but did not deliver tickets to the bidder. The events included tickets for a Bruce Springsteen concert, tickets for the Fiesta Bowl, tickets for the 2002 SEC Championship football game, and tickets for a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game.
