NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man was sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison for stealing more than $1 million from concert promoters and party planners by pretending he was a booking agent for Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and other stars.
Meceo McEaddy, 39, of New York City had earlier pleaded guilty to 21 counts of grand larceny and fraud, among other charges, for his a scam in which he and a partner promised event producers a performance by a major recording artist and then pocketed large deposits, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
In some cases, McEaddy's victims began promoting the performance by the big star they thought they had booked, and only learned that they had been duped after getting cease-and-desist notices from the performer's management company.
McEaddy was sentenced in the state supreme court in Manhattan on Tuesday. He also was ordered to pay $550,750 in restitution to his victims.
His co-defendant, Sylvester Vincent Carroll, also had pleaded guilty and was sentenced to between three and nine years in prison earlier this month and ordered to pay $2,015,000 in restitution.
In one instance in 2010, McEaddy and Carroll tricked a Brazilian production company into thinking it had booked a performance by Rihanna in exchange for a $825,000 deposit, the district attorney's office said.
McEaddy pleaded guilty to defrauding more than a dozen others in this way with false promises of shows by Enrique Iglesias, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and other globally famous stars. He spent the money at restaurants, furniture stores and nightclubs, the district attorney's office said.
McEaddy also was convicted of not filing or paying taxes on his income.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Bill Trott)