Nicolas Cage's conman sentenced to jail
25 Apr 2007
A conman who tricked actor NICOLAS CAGE out of $300,000 (£153,846) by posing as a classic car salesman has been jailed for five years.
Peter Brotman, 47, sold cars including a 1964 Rolls-Royce, a 1988 Aston Martin and a 1954 Jaguar on consignment, but kept the money he received to pay off other debts and fund his lavish lifestyle.
The Ghost Rider star became a victim of Brotman in April 2004, when he failed to hand over the full proceeds from the sale of three Ferraris and a Cobra.
Brotman was sentenced to five years imprisonment yesterday (24Apr07) after pleading guilty to 14 counts of mail, wire and bank fraud charges. He was also ordered to pay $1.8 million (£923,000) in compensation to his numerous targets.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Floyd J. Miller says, "The guy was extremely knowledgeable in the classic-car industry.
"It's a very insular community of mostly wealthy people. They have these auctions at Pebble Beach, Monte Carlo, (and) other places where the rich and famous meet."
