Area Man Heroically Defrauds Nic Cage

Newtown Square’s Peter Brotman was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for scamming $2 million from classic car owners. (And also, apparently, running some sort of “classic Ponzi scheme.”) He sold people’s classic cars, but never paid them, which is a pretty interesting scam. Gee! How could he ever get caught with a bulletproof scheme like this!

It wasn’t all bad, though. Among the victims was actor Nicholas Cage, who lost $300,000 on the sale of three Ferraris and a Cobra. Now, Cage is an alright actor — though he did even manage to overact when the World Trade Center fell on top of him — but, eh… three classic cars? And not just three cars, but three cars he could sell! That means he probably has about 10 of ‘em.

Now, I don’t know how many classic cars, say, Philip Seymour Hoffman or Edward Norton have, but I assume they don’t have three to sell. If those guys had 10 classic cars, that’s fine. They’re great actors. But the star of Ghost Rider and Face/Off? One classic car, at most.

And don’t get me started on Jay Leno.

So good job, Mr. Brotman. Too bad your scam was pretty simple to find out since, uh, all you did was sell these people’s cars and didn’t give them the money. Next time, just punch Nic Cage in the stomach or something.

Local Man Sentenced for Scamming Rich, Famous [6 ABC]

No One Can Resist Nick Cage’s Charm

Thanks to reader Chris for noticing something I missed in the Bridgeport story in yesterday’s Inquirer.

The relevant anecdote from the article, emphasis mine:

“In some ways, I can’t blame them,” said Anette Robles, 24, who was born in Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas, and who moved to Philadelphia after thinking the city looked appealing in the film National Treasure. “People who are used to running things don’t like it when other people come in.”

That’s funny. I have a buddy who originally moved here because of The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon.

Mexicans feel Bridgeport brush-off [Inquirer]
Nicolas Cage is a One Man Tourism Agency [Huge Tiny Mistake]
The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon [IMDb]