A former Sioux Falls area sports radio personality was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for his role in transferring more than $5 million in a fraudulent ticket reselling scheme.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, Jeff Thurn, of Hartford, was sentenced to 46 months in prison with three years of supervised release on Tuesday in Miami. He was also ordered to pay $5.1 million in restitution.
According to court documents beginning in 2015, Thurn told investors he had relationships he could leverage in order to buy and resell sporting and other entertainment event tickets for profit.
Investors wired or transferred more than $5 million to Thurn who fabricated receipts and the ticket sales never really happened.
Some of the checks were written to cash. Others were used for gambling or trading cryptocurrency.
Thurn left ESPN radio in February 2023. The case was investigated by the FBI Miami Field Office and prosecuted by the Assistant U.S. Attorney for Southern District of Florida.
