Must be something in the air or water in Florida.
A South Florida man posing as the manager of Adele is facing felony charges for an elaborate scam which targeted athletes and artists for free merchandise.
Justin Jackson was able to use the scheme to nab free sneakers off of Paul George, Victor Oladipo & Richard Hamilton. His failed scam targets include Drake, Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar. Here are the full details:
Two months ago, police arrested a notorious South Florida con man on accusations that he impersonated the manager of singer Adele to try to get tickets to a Miami hip-hop concert. But his scam targeted a host of other sports stars and celebrities over the years, prosecutors said Tuesday in filing new criminal charges against Justin Jackson and his wife.
▪ Offered Adele concert tickets in exchange for sneakers from basketball players Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Bismack Biyombo, among others, purportedly for an auction to benefit charities. He succeeded in getting sneakers shipped to him from NBA stars Paul George, Victor Oladipo and Richard Hamilton.
▪ Created a fake email for the manager of soccer superstar Lionel Messi, in an effort to “add a layer of verisimilitude” to his request to get sneakers from NBA stars.
▪ Asked representatives for music stars Chris Brown, Tory Lanez and Katy Perry if the singers would make birthday videos for a “dear friend.” The requests didn’t work.
▪ Got tickets to attend — and go backstage — at a concert for the rapper Fabolous. He also tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to get tickets to attend shows by Lauryn Hill and Carrie Underwood.
The pair was originally arrested in May for allegedly posing as Adele’s manager, Jonathan Dickins. Miami-Dade police said the two tried to get comped tickets to see rapper Kendrick Lamar at Miami’s Rolling Loud hip-hop festival on May 6.
Jackson served two years in Florida prison after posing as a rep for pop star Madonna, persuading a New York boutique to loan out $2.4 million worth of jewelry in 2007. He later sold the jewelry to a South Florida pawnshop.
He was put on probation after serving his prison time. Then in 2014, Jackson was sued in South Florida federal court on allegations that he posed as Oprah Winfrey’s nephew, execs from her cable television network and a former aide for President Barack Obama, all in attempts to get free stuff.
An incredible rap sheet which will result in a lengthy sentence.
Jackson also used the email account to ask for sunglasses from Drake and free merchandise back in April from Big Sean.
You can find a couple of the e-mail’s asking for free stuff on the following pages.