Steven Robert Comisar (born December 30, 1961) is an American criminal and book author. He has been convicted of fraud and extortion multiple times. He used

confidence trick A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irrespons ...

s and other techniques to fool his victims. Comisar was in federal prison and was released April 27, 2018.

Career

Comisar grew up in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

. As a young man he sold a "solar powered clothes dryer" in national magazines for $49.95. Buyers received a length of clothesline. Comisar has been arrested and convicted of numerous crimes. Comisar was convicted of a variety of

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

s in 1983, 1990, 1994 and 1999. All these trials took place in Federal court in Los Angeles. In 1999, Comisar was arrested for swindling investors in a fake television quiz show involving

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seaso ...

. 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 criminal activity and posed as a

fraud prevention In law, fraud is intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover mone ...

expert and consultant, using it on ''

Dateline NBC ''Dateline NBC'' (also known simply as ''Dateline'') is a weekly American television news magazine reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on ...

'', '' The View'', '' Sally'' '' Leeza'' '' Crook & Chase'' and in various other television appearances, and when he wrote the book ''America's Guide to Fraud Prevention''. 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 The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) is a professional organization of fraud examiners. Its activities include producing fraud information, training and tools. Based in Austin, Texas, the ACFE was founded in 1988 by Joseph T. Wells ...

and is on display in their fraud museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Comisar, Steve 1961 births 21st-century American writers Living people American male writers American prisoners and detainees American people convicted of fraud American confidence tricksters People from Beverly Hills, California