BC-PA--Pennsylvania News Coverage Advisory, PA

Pennsylvania man pleads to tractor joyride that hurt friend

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man who conned a South Korean steel company out of $375,000 by falsely claiming he could help it book a Pharrell concert faces sentencing in federal court Pittsburgh for dating scams that cost women nearly $1 million. Sigismond Segbefia pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of the plea, he also acknowledged bilking Dosko Co., a South Korean steelmaker, by pretending to promote a Pharrell Williams show. The company was planning to expand into entertainment to diversify its revenues. Segbefia was living in Silver Spring, Maryland, when he ran the scams from 2013 until he was arrested last April by customs officials at New York's Kennedy Airport as he returned from his native Ghana. The defendant likely faces at least two years in prison.

Man who faked Pharrell concert faces term for dating scams