OT: ebay G4 scam from a year ago

[Bruce_F]

QUOTE

...but I'll bet their cost is more than $5.19.

When I got that check, that's one of the first things I thought.

I received a letter about a month ago, explaining what had transpired in the courts and how they came to the decision of making the guy pay restitution. When I get home from work, I'll get that letter out and post some of what they told me.

It basically comes down to what method would cost the state more. Most likely, it's the tax payers who are footing the bill.

[Bruce_F]

The entire letter is too long to post, so I have taken some of the main points from the letter to share with TS readers.

From the Florida State Attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle

QUOTE

"This would have been a complicated case to prove in the Miami-Dade Courthouse. Since the defendant shows that he has no assets, he would have requested county funds to investigate this case fully to properly prepare his defense. This investigation would included his being permitted to meet each victim to take their deposition. I would also need to be present. That would mean that we would travel all around the country to accomplish this -- multiply these trips by 100 for the currently known victims alone. Then consider the other witnesses, for instance, ebay people, banking and credit people, and others. This process would last for years. If the case went to trial, Miami-Dade would fly in 100 witnesses from around the country to testify. If convicted, Topel could face five years in prison for each grand theft count for which he is convicted."

more...

QUOTE

"At trial, there could be several potential outcomes. First of all, my assessment is that we would probably have won. But, there are many problems with this case that would have been revealed in trial. Topel happens to have a good defense. He has several points to his defense, which he doesn't have to make clear until after I put on my case at trial and then I rest. At that point, he can decide what his defense will be.

Here are some options he has:

• None of the victims can ID him because all transactions were on the computer and he had other employees handling those;
• He was simply in the shipping department and he didn't know there were problems until it was too late;
• When he realized there were problems, he emptied his bank accounts and refunded as much money as possible to the victims and he shipped out all the computers he could find in his inventory;
• Rotem Gat is the really bad actor who knew it was a scam and hid it from Topel and made off with the money.

So... you can see just how complicated the whole thing is.