A fake booking agent claiming to work for rocker Tom Petty almost caused major heartbreak for one couple earlier this month.
Amazon.com executive Brian Valentine and his now-wife Gianna Puerini became engaged at a Tom Petty concert in 2010. Valentine had enough dough to book the band for his July 21 wedding reception as a gift for his wife, The Smoking Gun reports.
But after finding what he thought was Petty's booking agent online and paying $165,000 for the group, Valentine discovered out he'd been had by Las Vegas resident Chris Lund, who was posing as an agent. Valentine involved the FBI, who arrested Lund on August 2 on felony fraud charges.
Valentine, however, still held onto his dream of Petty playing his wedding reception. He managed to contact Petty's actual management team and booked the band -- for real, this time. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played a full set at the couple's wedding.
The band is the second big-name musician to surprise a bride on her wedding day this month. Elton John recently played a wedding reception in Calgary, Canada, after the groom arranged his appearance as a surprise.
Below, photos of Tom Petty in recent years.
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It must be nice to have that kind of dough laying around to pay $165,000 for a set of music at your wedding. I hope that this dude's wife and marriage prove to be worth it. I would never do something like that. Never EVER!
Biffton_Clifford: It must be nice to have that kind of dough
I don't want to say that my marriage to my first wife was a bit hairy but at our reception I had a song by Elton John dedicated to her. It was "Someone Shaved My Wife Tonight."
Louie_Rey: I don't want to say that my marriage to my
This is not the first of its kind either. The blame for these frauds, and there are many of them, belong squarely at the feet of the real artiste agents like CAA who whilst fully aware of these frauds, allow fradsters to use their artistes to dupe the public.
Artistes can be sued by victims of these frauds because their agents who are agents of the artistes and act on their authority,have notice of the frauds and the material from their agents used by these fraudsters to perpetrate these frauds against innocent promoters.
Negligence and ignoring such information is not a defence to a harge of aiding and abeetting in frauds of this nature. Evidence of frauds, using a bona fide agent or managers and artistes material to perpetrate a fraud is admissible against the artiste, agent and manager where they have had notice of these frauds.
Where a court in the US will not act on a complaint, a court outside the US can act effectively on a proper complaint brought against the artiste, his agent and others with consequences that the artiste can be arrested on foreign soil.
The artiste must then be able to prove that his agent acted on a frolick of his own and not as his agent with his express or implied authority to assist in the fraud by keeping quiet and not acting on information about the fraud.
sampahkuli: This is not the first of its kind either. The
What a prime example of regressive thinking.
In case you hadn't heard, "get a haircut" was totally dispelled in the early 70's. Thanks for reminding us of Mitt Romney's HS incident when "Billy's Bullies" held down a class mate for a trim.
Tom Petty has been one of our lifelines to musical purity through the disco, glam rock, rap, et al eras.
I doubt Tom Petty has any money concerns. That is left for the parasites that hope to benefit by their association with him. If they were paid for this, TP's share may well have gone to charity.
jec128: What a prime example of regressive thinking. In case you
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Posted: 08/07/2012 2:27 pm