Steven Robert Comisar (born December 30, 1961) is an American convicted con man and extortionist.[1] Comisar was in federal prison and was released April 27, 2018.[2]
Steve Comisar | |
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Born | Steven Robert Comisar December 30, 1961 |
Other names | Brett Champion |
Occupation | Con man |
Comisar grew up in Beverly Hills, California. As a young man he sold a "solar powered clothes dryer" in national magazines for $49.95. Buyers received a length of clothesline.[3] Comisar has been arrested and convicted of numerous crimes.[2][4][5] Comisar was convicted of a variety of frauds in 1983, 1990, 1994 and 1999. All these trials took place in Federal court in Los Angeles.[6] In 1999, Comisar was arrested for swindling investors in a fake television quiz show involving Joe Namath. He was sentenced to thirty-three months in jail.
Comisar used the working name Brett Champion during the period when he said he had retired from his career as a con man and posed as a fraud prevention expert and consultant, using it on Dateline NBC,[1][7] The View, Sally Leeza Crook & Chase and in various other television appearances, and when he wrote the book America's Guide to Fraud Prevention.[7][8][9] Comisar is now prohibited from using this alias or from referring to himself as a consumer fraud expert. His book is considered a "piece of fraud history" by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and is on display in their fraud museum.[10][11]
Awhile back the brilliant scam artist, Steve Comisar, cleverly exploited the efficiency of line drying laundry by advertising a "Solar Powered Clothes Dryer" for only $49.95. When the suckers, er, customers, opened the eagerly awaited packages, they discovered that the "Scientifically proven, space-age clothes dryer" was a piece of clothesline. I'm sure quite a few of them were amused. The equipment necessary for line drying clothes is usually inexpensive, ...