Two cyber dorks looked as if they were dressed for a pool party instead of court Wednesday, as the “nervous as hell” pals were hauled before a judge and accused of joining an international ticket-scamming ring.
Daniel Petryszyn, 28, and Bryan Caputo, 29, both Jersey boys, allegedly helped scalp thousands of tickets to major New York events — from Knick games to Jay Z concerts. The tickets had been looted from StubHub accounts by Russian hackers, officials said.
With a look of impending doom, Caputo marched into a Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment in flip flops and a red T-shirt and had his bail set at $500,000 for money laundering and other charges.
Petryszyn, meanwhile, had a look of horror come over his face as Judge Melissa Jackson set his bail at $2 million on more serious counts.
The pair’s lawyers tried to paint them as hapless losers who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“Your honor, my client is a kid from New Jersey, he’s 28 years old, he’s never been arrested before, he’s nervous as hell,” said Liam Malanaphy, an attorney for Petryszyn, who faces up to 25 years in jail.
“He does not live the lifestyle of a person who has millions of dollars at his disposal,” said Malanaphy, who claimed Petryszyn worked at a catering company. “He drives a car that’s five years old and registered to his father.”
A defense lawyer for Caputo also tried to describe his client as an innocent college grad.
“He’s 29 years old and graduated with honors from Montclair State University with a degree in finance,” said Reginald Sharpe. “He did not know that any tickets he was involved in were fraudulent in any way.”
The two men, along with Laurence Brinkmeyer, 29, of Bergen County, who has yet to be arrested, allegedly sold tickets that were obtained by two Russians — Vadim Polyakov, 30, and Nikolay Matveychuk, 21 — from hacked StubHub accounts.
The illicit proceeds of $1.6 million were allegedly directed to multiple bank accounts to be laundered by Sergei Kirin, 37, of Russia and others.