Crime & Safety

Magic Factory Owner Looks to Have Psychological Evaluation Sealed

Harry Levy is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.

Update:

The owner of a Medford business who has admitted to making over a half-million dollars in unauthorized charges on one customer's credit card wants to have his sentencing memorandum sealed from the public, according to court filings.

The attorney for Harry Levy, owner of Hank Lee's Magic Factory, filed a motion earlier this month asking the memorandum be filed under seal. It includes the outcome of a forensic psychological evaluation and numerous letters of support, according to the filing, submitted by attorney Steven Sussman.

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"The memorandum contains personal information about the defendant in which the defendant has a protected privacy interest that outweighs any interest of the public knowing the defendant’s background," Sussman wrote.

Leading up to a sentencing, prosecution and defense each file a sentencing memorandum, outlining their requests for punishment. Levy is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6 on charges of credit card fraud and issuing false statements. The motion from Sussman to file the memorandum under seal was submitted to Federal Court Judge Patti Saris Aug. 17. No action has been taken on the motion, according to a court docket.

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Levy faces a total of up to 20 years in prison on the charges, but prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence at the "low end of sentencing guidelines," according to the plea agreement. and to have Levy ordered to pay resititution to the victim, according to the plea agreement.

Levy pleaded guilty in April to charges of credit card fraud and issuing false statements. In signed court papers, Levy admitted to between 2009 and 2011. When federal investigators sat down with Levy in September 2011, he blamed the fraud on other people defrauding the victim, and the victim himself, according to the filing.

"(He) didn't look at his American Express bill for more than two years," Levy told investigators. "People were using his cards."

He also claimed he shipped orders submitted by the victim all over the world, prosecutors said. Levy told investigators he continued to take the orders, but eventually stopped shipping them because he "thought something was up," according to the court filing.

Levy was ordered to provide investigators with files related to the charges, but he gave them logs that were "not comprehendable by a human," the filing said, and did not provide any specific information. Federal investigators eventually obtained a search warrant and found that Levy had made up invoices, according to the filing.

Levy faces a total of up to 20 years in prison on the charges, but prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence at the "low end of sentencing guidelines" and to have Levy ordered to pay resititution to the victim, according to the plea agreement.

In July, prosecutors filed a motion of forfeiture, which would allow the government to seize Levy's assets in order to obtain restitution. The Magic Factory has remained open since the charges were brought forward.


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